The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Song of the Redeemed"
As we concluded the singing of a hymn in a service yesterday, I proposed that angels in Heaven might be listening and, "Wishing we could sing like that!" Frances followed with the thought, "They cannot sing the song of the redeemed."
"Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into" (I Peter 1:12).
Only one passage of Scripture suggests that angels sing.
"Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:6-7).
If, as many students of Scripture surmise, the "morning stars" are synonymous with angels, we may ponder what it must have been like to have heard them rejoice in song when God made the physical creation. What wondrous sound must have reverberated through newly formed galaxies, worlds, and the immensity of space. But how much more wondrous that former rebels now rescued from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ sing in our hearts and in a fallen world "the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3).
Nineteenth century pastor John East beautifully depicted the beauty of grace-composed strains sung by human hearts that angels can never voice.
"Angelic worlds around Thee sweetly rolled
their strains o'er harps of pure, ethereal gold.
They sung Thee, God - creation's fount and end,
their sovereign Benefactor, Lord, and Friend.
Their 'Holy Holy' pealed around,
deep echoing through immensity's profound.
Yet none, amidst their shining hosts of light,
e're hailed Thee Savior! That supreme delight
reserved for guilty man - for guilty me! -
to sing through time, and through eternity."
Many believers do not care to hear their own voices in song. I understand that and often feel the same way. However, God loves the voices of the redeemed as we sing the songs reserved only for human hearts. We alone have known His grace in a measure and degree of which all other created entities can only wonder. So, whether quietly in the heart or resoundingly with the voice, let us sing the songs reserved for the forgiven, the pardoned, the enlivened, and the spiritually birthed sons and daughters in whom the Spirit of God moves to orchestrate music we alone can make…
"Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."
(Ephesians 5:18-19)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and Thy truth's sake!"
(Psalm 115:1)
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