These are sermons and devotional messages by other people that spoke to my heart. I like to keep them for future reference. I claim no copyrights to any of them. They are here just to help me when I need to hear the message again. (Emphasis is mine, as these are the lines that spoke the loudest to me). Links to the original sermon page as well as the ministry page are placed in each one. Links to scriptures are included through Biblia.com or BibleGateway.com

Sunday, August 29, 2010

How Can We Keep From Singing?

by Our Daily Bread - Aug 29, 2010 by David C. McCasland

Read: Psalm 146
While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. —Psalm 146:2
 
Robert Lowry felt that preaching would be his greatest contribution in life. However, this 19th-century pastor is best remembered for his gospel music and hymns. Lowry composed words or music for more than 500 songs, including “Christ Arose,” “I Need Thee Every Hour,” and “Shall We Gather at the River?”

In 1860, as the United States teetered on the brink of civil war, Lowry wrote these enduring words that focus not on threatening circumstances but on the unchanging Christ:
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of Heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

Lowry’s confidence in God during difficult times echoes the psalmist’s words: “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. . . . Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Ps. 146:3-5).

Whether we react to life with faith or fear depends on our focus. Knowing that “the Lord shall reign forever” (v.10), how can we keep from singing?

If you keep in tune with Christ, you can sing even in the dark.
 

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