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.
I Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” The Christian poet John Dunne echoed this thought with his famous line from “Holy Sonnet X”: “Death, thou shalt die.” Because we know that life everlasting is freely available through faith in Jesus Christ, our grief over the loss of fellow Christians does not consume us: “But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13). Our great grief is joined by the complete certainty that for a believer “to be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8). A relatively modern song that considers these truths is “Goodbye” by Plankeye. The accompanying poignant video pictures friends and family members that members of the band had grieved over.