“O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all
The world Thy Hand hath made,
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout
The universe displayed;
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art!
How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art! ”
3 AM- Three mornings ago. I am sitting in the chair I sleep in wide awake-pain, exhaustion and I am so, so weary in it all. The evil one seeks to tempt me to accept the “fiery darts” of despair and hopelessness. I try and talk myself through why I am so weary, but I find no relief…and then unannounced, in a beautiful and wonderful way the Spirit of God intervenes and those spiraling thoughts are captured and instead of descending He causes my heart to ASCEND at such a rate, I am lifted up and out of the miry pit, and I am inwardly strengthened, His JOY Arises in my heart, and though my voice is so weak, it comes and goes, and I may not be able to use it to sing out loud, yet in my heart I am standing, singing along the song to the LORD, which He has caused to rise within my heart! His Joy strengthening me and I am bursting forth in song as inwardly, I sing along, I sing ALOUD, with gusto and to this great CRESCENDO – “… And sings my soul, my Savior God To Thee, How GREAT THOU ART, HOW GREAT THOU ART!”
My circumstances had not changed, my pain was not lessened, my breathing was not improved, sleep did not come, nothing had changed EXCEPT THE MAIN THING- HE had broke into my circumstances and from deep within my heart, a song HE had allowed me to hear, memorize, thirty year ago, HE pulled out of the “Vault of Remembrance” and at just the right moment, HE arrested the destructive, lying thoughts and Reminded me of the truth through a song and HE caused my heart to soar, HE inwardly strengthened me to sing from a heart of Joy and Gratitude to Him, of the reality, “….my GOD, HOW GREAT THOU ART!”
For the past three days, at different times, unannounced, breaking into my thoughts HE brings before me this song and from deep within my heart, my eyes and attention are focused on Him and I sing along and ALOUD within my heart, “… my God how Great THOU Art.” How wonderful that He who made us, died to save us, is also The One who SUSTAINS US. He is intimately acquainted with us, He loves us, He is committed to us and nothing can sever us from His Love. He is The Great Savior, He is the Tender Shepherd. He is the Friend who sticks closer than a Brother. He is not ashamed to be called our God. He is our Elder Brother. He is Merciful High Priest. He is Affectionate. He is Able. He will never Abandon us. He is Affectionate. He is Able. He is For us. He is The One who causes us to Sing. He is our Song. He Saves and He SUSTAINS us. His Eye is ever upon us. He is the Friend of Sinners. He is Faithful. He is ever present. He has pity upon us and He “Empathizes” with us – which means He “feels the very feelings we feel.” We never suffer alone.
That HE would cause a song in my heart to arise, to remind me of Himself, and lift me up. He can recall what you have deposited in your heart.
*** Think about this, He is presently worshiped and adored unceasingly in Heaven and yet we read,” This poor man cried to the LORD and He listened and saved him out from all his troubles.” {Psalm 34:6}. What mercy, tenderness that amidst the crescendo of praise and worship, adoration. He hears the cry of desperation, and He does not turn away from it but towards him. He hears your cry. He heard my cry. He saw me and was not indifferent to me…
That HE would so intimately, tenderly have pity on a man sitting alone in a darkened room at 3 am, that He would fight for me and place within my heart a Song that elevated me emotionally and inwardly strengthened me so that joy, gladness of heart of emotion, and confidence produced by Him, welled up in my heart towards Him… and for three days now, HE, at various times during the day or early mornings when I awake I FIND THIS SONG, ARISING AGAIN IN IN MY HEART, AND MY MIND CONTEMPLATES THE WORDS, AND MY HEART SINGS FORTH,”….MY GOD, HOW GREAT THOU ART.”… How wonderful is He. He gives a song amidst the Sorrows. And I am truly grateful for a song in my heart. He gives a song within that is not dependent on what happens around us.
Ok- Great- You have a Song in your heart- doesn’t seem like a big deal, what about the Pain- What about the healing? What about getting you out of a chair?
Could He not just take away my pain, cause my incurable muscle disease to be reversed? Could He not just let me sleep and wake up refreshed? Could He not help me walk without shuffling? Could He not just heal me and reverse all this? YES He could and Yes He can. And I would give Him a hearty “amen,” if He did.
But the issue is not my physical healing the issue here to consider, that in the midst of excruciating chronic, debilitating pain that has changed my life, GOD MET ME. GOD SUSTAINS ME. GOD MEETS ME IN MY WEAKNESS. GOD GAVE ME A SONG IN MY HEART. As difficult as it is for some people, the great testimony at times is not the physical healing but the KEEPING- THE SUSTAINING of GOD in the hard place. And A SONG that STRENGTHENS the HEART. ***** He is – THE SUSTAINING SAVIOR!
GOD gives a Song Amidst The Sorrows…..And again this morning I awoke at 2 am and in the midst of some difficulties….silently, but ever so graciously, He gently gets my attention and turns it towards Himself through the words of this song which He causes to arise within my heart and my heart is strengthened with His Joy, and in my heart I am standing singing LOUD to Him with gusto with that great Crescendo,”….my God, How Great Thou Art…”
“O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Refrain:
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!”
“… and sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How Great THOU art, How GREAT THOU ART!”
Thank God He gives us a song within our hearts. God gives a song amidst the sorrows. God not only SUSTAINS us IN THE HARD, DIFFICULT PLACE, but Gives Us A Song Amidst The Sorrows… For He is, – THE SUSTAINING SAVIOUR.
” …and sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee… How Great THOU ART…”.