They shall sing in the ways of the Lord
Psalm 138:5
The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is
when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even
the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture
which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God. You
know how John Bunyan describes it. He says when poor Pilgrim lost his
burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps, and went on his way
singing--
"Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!"
Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? Do you
remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee
with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy
transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be
mentioned against thee any more for ever." Oh! what a sweet season is
that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin. When the Lord first
pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce refrain from
dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been
set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story
of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell
every snow-flake that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of
Jesus, who had blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels.
But it is not only at the commencement of the Christian life that
believers have reason for song; as long as they live they discover
cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of His
constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the Lord at
all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it,
brother, that thou magnifiest the Lord this day.
"Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand."
