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.
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time for family. All of my Thanksgiving memories include family, for I have never been away from home on this holiday. Being thankful to God for family is certainly appropriate, for God established family from the beginning of Creation. Of course, He is aware of the heartache caused by separation within families, including the hardest separation of all – death. His concern for the lonely and needy is found throughout Scripture and informs James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” A song of faith that reflects on the subject of “the fatherless” is “Orphan Girl” by Gillian Welch, whose version is outstanding. The rendition by Emmylou Harris is also excellent.