Melodic Mondays
Those of you who know me know that I love music even though I am not musical myself. I listen to good music as often as I can. It is beneficial to the brain, valuable to the vocabulary, and strengthening to the soul. Isaiah 12:2-3 is a lovely passage that includes this soaring statement of surety: “The Lord JEHOVAH [YAHWEH] is my strength and my song.” This could be translated, “God is my mountaintop and my music.” Yes, He is! Each Monday, I want to study this subject and suggest a song to listen to. Anyone reading this devotional has easy access to any song. (I am an exception because I do not go on a computer or other information device.) If you do not like my suggestion (and we all have different tastes), you can think of or search for one that speaks to you. Then, it can become a source of encouragement throughout the week.
As we saw last Monday from Matthew 26:30 and Psalm 118:24, music was part of the life of Jesus and His disciples. It was also an integral aspect of the early Church. The second half of I Timothy 3:16 records what is likely a segment of a song from the first century: “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Many of our hymns include some of these central themes of the Christian faith. For example, His being “manifest in the flesh” refers to His Incarnation, to His coming to us as both fully divine and fully human. A hymn should be both theologically accurate and linguistically compelling. “Down from His Glory,” performed by Charles Billingsley is an effective example of this winsome wedding of doctrine and poetry.