The Gathering Place Where Family Matters

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Yesterday I shared with you the testimony of Lanny and the impact of that great hymn “He Keeps Me Singing!” According to hishymnhistory.blogspot.com, the background of Luther Bridgers writing this powerful hymn was born out of great tragedy. Pastor Bridgers had accepted an invitation to minister at a conference in Kentucky in the year 1910, so he left his family in the care of his father-in-law and made the trip to Kentucky. There two wonderful weeks of ministry resulted. The last service closed with great joy, and he was excited to be called to the telephone. He couldn’t wait to tell his wife about all the blessings. But it wasn’t her voice on that long distance line. He listened in silence to the news that a fire had burned down the house of his father-in-law, and his wife and all three of his sons had died in the blaze. That distraught husband and father leaned heavily on His Savior and expressed his faith in God. Truly the Lord brought him through that agonizing tragedy, and through that experience he wrote the powerful hymn. Think of the lyrics that Pastor Bridgers penned on paper.

There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
In all of life’s ebb and flow.

Refrain
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See His footprints all the way.

Refrain

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me,
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.

Refrain

For today: God’s Word instructs us to sing hymns with grace in our hearts to the Lord. May this be true in our personal and corporate worship!

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

From yesterday, I told you the story of Lanny as he stepped into his date’s local church and their evening service. The very first hymn instantly challenged and blessed Lanny. It was beautiful and powerful. It was the hymn “He Keeps Me Singing.” Written by Luther Bridgers, three of the verses of the hymn lyrics are as follows.

There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
In all of life’s ebb and flow.

Refrain
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See His footprints all the way.

Refrain

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me,
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.

Refrain

Do you know the background of this amazing hymn? I’ll share it with you tomorrow.

For today: Never neglect the Word of God and never minimize the power of hymns and spiritual songs in your life.

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

He stepped inside the church and took a seat with his date. Yes! I did say “date!” She knew he had the testimony of salvation, but the young man who wanted to date her did not have the advantage of growing in up in a doctrinally sound church. I’ll call him Lanny. I can still hear his testimony as he shared, “I was as nervous as all get out. Stepping inside that church, I was so scared I thought I’d be sick.”

They sat down. Several around them said hi to his date and then introduced themselves to Lanny. The the song leader stood up, welcomed the evening service crowd, and invited the church to turn in their hymnals to a certain number. It would be the hymn that Luther Bridgers wrote, “He Keeps Me Singing!” Are you familiar with his hymn?

I’ll share more tomorrow. But for now, not only was the Word of God accurately preached and taught that night but the congregational singing of spiritual truth was very powerful to young Lanny. He never got over hearing that great hymn.

For today: Never underestimate the power of rich, beautiful hymns.

“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that Thou mightiest still the enemy and avenger” (Psalm 8:2).

You might be thinking, “What in the world does this mean?” Simply stated, God can do anything. He can even use a very, very young child to speak truth and bring the enemies to being silenced.

Let me finish the illustration from yesterday. Years ago, my wife and I encountered a person who was hostile, angry, mean-spirited, oppositional and just downright hard to deal with. Let me tell you about it. We were invited to come regularly to a certain nursing facility and share a half hour service of hymns and devotionals. One of the lady residents strongly opposed our being there. We tried everything we could do to help her and befriend her.

And then it happened. The day came when we were to be at the nursing home and could not secure someone to watch our four-year-old daughter Rachel. She had to come with us. Her mom and I invested much time warning little Rachel about our dear friends and that some of them might not be really friendly. That didn’t seem to faze her at all. She willingly helped pass out the chorus books and was exuberant in her greeting. Pigtails a-flying, smile on her little face, she bounced right up to this oppositional lady, said “My name is Rachel,” hugged her and asked, “What’s your name?”

Instantly it was a breakthrough. My years of public speaking, several degrees earned in seminary, and every attempt on my part had failed. It was a Psalm 8:2 moment. Out of the mouth of a very young child an immediate and powerful break through occurred. By the way, from then until she entered Kindergarten Rachel came with us to the nursing home.

For today: Make sure safety protocols are strictly in place; however! Never underestimate the powerful ministry of a child.

Psalm 8 has been one of my favorite passages for a long time. Every verse grabs my attention as well as my affection. I am going to come to Psalm 8:2 in a second. But think of this with me.

Our Lord’s excellent name (8:1).
Our Lord’s awesome creation which is the work of His fingers (8:3).
Our Lord’s incredible attention to the details of people (8:4).
Our Lord’s magnificent arrangement of the order of angels and work of man (8:5-8).
A reminder of our Lord’s excellent name (8:9).

Now Psalm 8:2. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that Thou mightiest still the enemy and avenger.” You might be thinking, “What in the world does this mean?”

Simply stated, God can do anything. He can even use a very, very young child to speak truth and bring the enemies to being silenced. Years ago, my wife and I encountered a person who was hostile, angry, mean-spirited, oppositional and just downright hard to deal with. And then it happened. Right before our very eyes it happened!

I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

For today: Be thrilled with learning more about our Lord Who is awesome in every detail.