Morning Songs of the Heart

Do you ever awaken with your soul singing? Matthew Redman did as he contemplated God’s goodness: “The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning. It’s time to sing your song again” (10,000 Reasons). Perhaps a beautiful dawn was the inspiration for the awaking Psalmist who exclaimed, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”(Psalm 118:24)

For millenniums, song writers have turned their praise heavenward for the blessings and fresh hope found in new dawns, in new beginnings. One German song writer penned, “When morning gilds the skies, my heart awaking cries, ‘May Jesus Christ be praised’? (Anonymous, 1828) Why would he suggest that Christ be praised when the first light rays break darkness? It is all about love! Christ entered humanity as the embodiment of God’s deep love. He opened the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven where God’s “mercies are renewed every morning” for all those who trust Him (Lamentations 3:22-23).

So great and wonderful are God’s mercies that the Psalmist said he would “sing of them forever “ (Psalm 89:1-3). He rejoiced over God’s grace and mercy, over God’s peace, hope, comfort and goodwill, over God’s righteousness and justice, over God’s forgiveness and healing of offenses, hurts and diseases of the soul, and over His “steadfast love” (Psalm 103). So great is that love that George Matheson wrote a hymn describing Christ as the “Love that will not let me go!” The Apostle Paul said nothing in “life or death” or “in all creation” can separate us from God’s love found in Christ (Romans 8:38:39). And Keith Getty’s and Stuart Townsend’s contemporary song powerfully exclaims: “no power of hell, no scheme of man\Can ever pluck me from his hand” (In Christ Alone).

Jesus, who was dead and is alive, said, “Behold I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5) That promise is for every person, for every day, and for every future when taken in the context of belief. God’s old promises don’t wear out or become obsolete. They are constant and continual, yet they are new every day!

So, “Whatever may pass, or whatever lies before me,Let me be singing when the evening comes, Bless the Lord, O my soul…Bless his holy name!” (10000 Reasons)