Songs In The Night

Job 35:10-11 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, Who teaches us more than He teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’ 

Songs in the Night

Book by that title

We know that some of the most beloved hymns were born out of great pain and suffering.

It is interesting, is it not, what suffering begets? - Gene Edwards

Pain is a common emotion we all share. Most people, by the time they are 40, have experienced loss or deep trouble. Some experience it much younger. 

Life is fragile and trouble can come in a moment that effects the rest of our lives.

It is described in Job by Elihu as "night". A time of darkness. A time when fear is easily aroused. Night is a time when our imaginations are the most active.

Night is a time when we do not see things clearly and yet a time when our pupils are wide open. It is a time when we are to rest but that if we are restless we think and experience things that are much less frightening in the light.

1. Nighttime is something all of pass through

Everybody's Got Something By Robyn Roberts

St. John of the Cross- The Dark Night Of The Soul

Poem and a Treatise

A time when we are drawn closer to God through pain, darkness, difficulty.

"You can have some strange thoughts at midnight"- Martin Luther King

It is something we all pass through but when we are in it we often feel, "No one knows what I  was going   through." There is an element of truth to that if we insert the word "exactly' before "what". But there is enough common ground in the night where although we cannot know precisely we do have the experience and therefore we can help another.

Going through the valley of the shadow of death

Lewis struggles profoundly with despair after the death of his wife, Helen Joy, in 1960, after only three years of marriage.

"... Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be — or so it feels — welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?

I tried to put some of these thoughts to C. this afternoon. He reminded me that the same thing seems to have happened to Christ: 'Why hast thou forsaken me?' I know. Does that make it easier to understand?"

Going through the valley of the shadow of death. The three words David uses: valley, shadow and death all indicate dark times. The all indicate a lack of light upon the individual. 

C.S Lewis' words point out something that I have shared with you many times. A person in pain needs people near by. We must carefully chose the words we speak, even when it is the Word of God. What we think they need may be taken differently by the person in pain. Often our perspective of what they are going through is not correct. 

Take a baby crying. You can change him, feed him, burp him and find at he end of it he is still crying. You can even say, "I have changed you, fed you, and burped you." All that is true. But what that baby may need more than anything else is to be held close and that is all. We forget often that a newborn came out of a secure and quiet place into a world wide open and noisy. They left a temperature of 98.6 and are now experiencing a whole new set of conditions. 

Often what is needed is to be held close and a lullaby sung and that restless baby wll relax and fall asleep in our arms.

So God comes with... 

2. The Songs In The Night

Beautiful

Heavenly 

Heaven Sent 

God is the Author

He furnishes them

He inspires them

God gives songs in the night.

Spontaeous. I have spoken to  those (and I am also oen of them) who have heard songs in our hearts when in deep grief. Beautiful words and music. I remember these coming frequently and I would write them down. Many of our hymns were formed that way.

Anyone can sing in the day. Whistling, humming, 

God is the subject of our songs in the night.

Psalm 42:8 By day the Lord directs his love,at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. 

Psalm 77:6 I remembered my songs in the night.My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 

Psalm 119:62 At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws. 

Songs in the night show our courage, faith and love..

Martin Luther says, “The devil cannot stand singing.”

One of the things we learned through Job is that words did not help him in the least. What if his friends had sang to him?  My brother, Mark, went to be with the LORD 16 years ago this week. Many people sent cards, flowers, spoke to me.

One of the things I remember so clearly is a  small group of people coming from our Haitian Church which met in our building at the  time. They came in and Pastor Kuidio said, "We bring condolences." Then they sang. They sang in beautiful Creole. They sang softly right into my heart and soul. I can still feel the peace in the midst of pain. God gives us songs in the night.

3. The Lessons Learned in the Darkness

There is little we can do about it if anything

One step at a time

His Word lights our path and feet.

Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. 

Psalm 103:10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 

Trust God.

Continue to do good.

1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. 

Revelation 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 

There is no telling what God might do. So often we have written off things and even our own lives then He steps in!