A Song is Rising
A Song is Rising
Exodus 15:1
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying: “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Once upon a time, someone cut down a tree, carved a long section of wood, hollowed out one end, fastened strings down the neck and over the hollowed center, and began to strum. A guitar was born. Someone else with even greater ambition, perhaps tired of dealing with calloused fingers and broken strings, cut down another tree, fashioned it into a big box-like instrument, hollowed it out, added ivory keys, strung them together by metal hammers, clothed the strings inside the hollowed shell, and began to run up and down the keys with his fingers. And a piano was born—the greatest instrument of all!
Now, that’s more a fable than a precise historical account of the invention of musical instruments, but the moral is this: men didn’t create music; men merely found ways to conduct it, to tap into it as it were, like children running out into a thunderstorm with keys trying to catch a lightning bolt! Beethoven never wrote a single chord. Mozart never invented a major lift. Handel didn’t fashion a new Hallelujah. They heard the song in their souls, discovered the harmonies in nature all around them, and followed their God-given urge to join in.
So friend, the next time you’re moved to tears from a choir singing your favorite hymn, or you find yourself bobbing your head with the family on a road trip to a song that lifts you out of a moment of despair (that was us just yesterday!), or a moment of fervent prayer brings to mind a sudden song, thank the Great Composer Who gave you music as a way to draw near to Him. Praise the One Who orchestrated your mouth to sing and your feet to dance and your hands to clap and your soul to participate in the song of Redemption that plays all round you.
But don’t wait till the inspiration hits—join in right now! Pick up an instrument—any instrument—or, if you can’t play, lift up your voice; or, if you can’t sing, clap your hands in applause. And sing a triumphant song to your triumphant Lord!