Sing Along

In all reality, every morning I spend with God, I could write about the experience I have with Him. Each day is new and fresh. Each day my passion for the love of my life is renewed as I seek His heart in a deeper and deeper way.

This morning I read Psalm 146. Here is what it says:

Praise the Lord!
Let all that I am praise the Lord.
I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
There is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
And all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
Whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He made heaven and earth,
The sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed
And food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
But He frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem,
Throughout the generations.
Praise the Lord!

This morning I was praying that God would continue to mold my character; that He would continue to take away the things that are just me and replace them with things that are His. I want His heart as my own and I want to see the world as He does. I asked that He would give me His passion for the people of the world, because often I am just consumed with the pressures of daily life and all the tasks I have to complete. It was then that God had me read the Psalm again. In the words of the author, I realized that if I am to have God’s heart, I also must:

-Keep every promise forever
-Give justice to the oppressed
-Give food to the hungry
-Free the prisoners
-Open the eyes of the blind
-Lift up those who are weighed down
-Love the godly
-Protect the foreigners among us
-Care for the orphans and widows

In this world, I do not wander around without a calling or purpose. My calling is to be like Christ, to have His character. If His character is to do these things as naturally as He breathed (and this is evidenced clearly in His life), then I must do them as naturally as I breathe as well. I must constantly be a light in the darkness. I must never stop bringing hope to those who are overlooked and suffering. This isn’t just a metaphor that sounds nice in a poem. These are specific ways that God calls us to live in this world and to bring forth His Kingdom to every corner of the earth. As Christy Nockels puts it: the song that God sings through the night and calls us to sing along. Here are the words to the song that has so convicted me and awakened my passion:

Sing Along
Christy Nockels

From babies hidden in the shadows
To the city shining bright
There are captives weeping
Far from sight
For every doorway there’s a story
And some are holding back the cries
But there is One who hears us in the night

Great God, wrap Your arms around this world tonight
Around the world tonight
And when You hear our cries, sing through the night
So we can join in Your song and sing along
Sing along

For the farthest corners of the earth
Still His mercy reaches
Even to the pain we cannot see
And through the deepest darkness
There’s a promise that will keep us
There is One who came to set us free

Great God, wrap Your arms around this world tonight
Around the world tonight
And when You hear our cries, sing through the night
So we can join in Your song and sing along
Sing along

Let Your song rise and fill up the earth
And let Your hope ring out, let Your heart be heard
Let Your song rise and fill up the earth
And let Your hope ring out, let Your heart be heard

Great God, wrap Your arms around this world tonight
Around the world tonight
And when You hear our cries, sing through the night
So we can join in Your song and sing along
Sing along

God, may my prayer be that Your hope would ring out and that Your heart would be heard. May Your song rise and fill up the earth through my life. Don’t let me be just another person striving to do something good. Use me to shower this world with Your love and hope. Let me sing along with the song of Your heart. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. To You belong all glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.