We
have had a wonderful weekend at the Salvation Army in Ripley for the Home
League weekend. Major Joy Caddy took the service on Saturday afternoon and
Sunday morning. A time to sing was the theme and wonderful songs of praise and
adoration were sung to the praise and glory of God by the Home League.
Ruben gave us
a wonderful rendition of how we should not be, Mrs Beamish written by Richard
Stilgoe and Peter Skellern after which we had a wonderful rendition of how it
should be by the choir.
O
come let us worship and bow down,
Let
us kneel before the Lord our King,
Let
us whisper His name, wonderful name,
Jesus
our Lord and King.
O
come let us worship and bow down,
Let
us kneel before the Lord our King,
Let
us whisper His name, wonderful name,
Jesus
our Lord and King.
For
He is Lord of all the earth,
His
glory outshines the sun,
See
Him clothed in robes of righteousness,
God’s
beloved Son.
O
come let us worship and bow down,
Let
us kneel before the Lord our King,
Let
us whisper His name, wonderful name,
Jesus
our Lord and King.
We also had a duet by my sister Pamela and myself
called For every Answered Prayer. Major Caddy posed the question, when do you
like to sing? Do you always feel like singing? And of course we don't always
feel like singing, the song by the Rivers of Babylon that the timbrels played
to showed that the Israelites did not want to sing in the strange land, 
Psalm
137:1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we
remembered Zion. 2 We hanged our harps
upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 For there they that
carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required
of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4 How
shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land?
But we can, this world as the song says is not our
home, we are just passing through and no matter how tough things get we can
still sing the songs of salvation and redemption and play our tambourines. Major Joy reminded us of
why we sing, we sing because of who God is, we sing because of what he has done
and he has placed these songs upon our hearts, songs that we learn from our
youth, songs that are taken from scripture, songs that tell of the God of glory
and of grace.
Mary sang
Luke 1: 46 And
Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his
handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;
and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from
generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath
scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and
exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the
rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance
of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his
seed for ever.
Mary
would have learnt the songs of old and she would have remembered them, the song
of Hannah, and the wonderful psalms. Psalms sung in times of victory and
deliverance and also in pain and loss but always recognising the sovereignty,
power and grace of God.
Major
Ruth reminded us on Sunday evening of many in the Bible who sang in adversity, Paul in prison was
just one example and of course the Lord Himself singing the Egyptian Hallel
psalms at Passover when he was about to be delivered into the hands of His
enemies to be whipped, mocked and hung to die on a cross for the sins of the
whole world. There is nothing worse than that and yet Jesus sang praises of
deliverance to the Father.
A
time to sing? It is always a time to sing whether we feel like it or not, whether
we are out of tune or not, God hears the songs of the heart and dwells within
the praises of His people. May the Lord bless you.
