SOUL SONGS

The song of our souls is gratitude when we are accepted into the fold. How could we feel anything but undying gratitude when we have been pulled from the muck of our lives, dripping with the ooze and stench of our sin, into the fragrant warmth of our Creator's encircling arms? In His arms, we learn of Love, acceptance and forgiveness. It is where we are dried off, scolded and taught the right way to live. It is where all healing occurs.

The Psalms are the lyrics of our lives. Listen to the music of gratefulness:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this-those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.” The first part of Psalm 107 (verses 1-3), demonstrates what God has done for us. Its immensity is heart-bursting for when we live in God's presence, we will be unable to keep our mouths from singing His praises!

Acts 1:8, the last recorded statement of Christ on earth, describes what happens in our hearts when the Holy Spirit inhabits them. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem , and in all Judea and Samaria , and to the ends of the earth.” We will be unable to refrain from singing, dancing and sharing what wonders God has performed in our lives because pure, unadulterated God-power via the Holy Spirit will propel us.

If we relinquish our hold on thankfulness, it grieves God deeply. It becomes the beginnings of our descent along the slippery slope toward hell, for without praise and thankfulness, we lose our humility. In order to thank Him we must recognize His greatness and our smallness.

“Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle,” (verses 4-7).

What were our lives before we accepted Christ? Think back. I have murky memories of sacrificing my integrity on the altar of the world's foolishness at the time. I was a wandering loner of a girl, inexorably lost in a wasteland of just plain wrong living. I felt like an alien, never belonging anywhere! But I was famished. My tongue dragged on the ground for lack of drink. I sought after God in that then-empty, God-sized place we all have in our hearts. I prayed and pleaded and then ignored His Love, correction and direction. In retrospect, I am grateful for that time. It has grown a fruitful branch after God's timely, yet painful pruning.

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things, (verses 8-9).

Recognizing our lost-ness, our state of being nothing really, without Him, will allow Him to train His little ones up in the correct way. Just as parents direct their children as they train their behavior choices, God loves us unfailingly enough to chastise us and then bless us in order to guide our feet to the narrow path.

This morning the drive to work was extremely foggy. The anxiety of not being able to see the road was removed when I looked up at a slight movement in the very top of a color-changing sugar maple. It struck me as strange at the time that I was able to see that tree through the thick fog. That special singular maple is the lone worshipper in the dun hayfield it sits in…and I thank God daily for its beauty. The silhouette of a hawk perched atop the branches, feathers on its wings ruffling in the slight breeze, served as a reminder that always, always, someone is watching over me. My heart soared when I realized that there is not one moment of our lives that God misses! He is there for the wildernesses and the peaks. He loves us, that fact alone, brings a thankful song to my heart.

The author of Psalm 107 describes what one of my Bible commentaries calls a “common behavior pattern in the lives of God's people: Sin/Servitude/Supplication/Salvation or Rebellion/Retribution/Repentance/Restoration. This ever-recurring cycle exhibits the perpetual proneness of the human heart to wander away from the Living God and the seemingly inexhaustible mercy of the Lord in restoring His people when they come to Him in repentance.” His mercy is the essence of our gratefulness. It is the honey that continually drips from His heart to ours, feeding us with life-giving nutrients. When we devour Him and His Word, we open our hearts in a song that will part the Heavens with its beauty and bend our knee in dedicated gratitude and servitude to the One who created us. The last verses of Psalm 107 explain why gratefulness is our only viable option. “But He lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks. The upright see and rejoice, but the wicked shut their mouths. Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.”