Yesterday I was driving to work and the song "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" came on. I have a reputation for not liking this song very much; but in reality I really do like it. (Yes, there was a time that it bothered me to sing it, and I couldnt get through it without wanting to be sick). But eventually I did come to see that singing that song helped with my mindset. I was not able to continue to "pretend" that I knew God was good; it forced me to do business with Him until I knew and believed with my whole heart that no matter what was going on in my life, God was a God of love and He did love me. (Want to give it a listen? Look up Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman on YouTube.)
What used to bother me was that everyone was singing this song with a smile on their face; while for me (6 years ago) the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Because I knew what it was like to have something "taken away", and I sure didn't feel like clapping and singing about it. BUT in reality, I did mean what I sang, I did (and do) CHOOSE to say "Blessed be HIS name", even when the sun is not shining, and life has not happened the way I would have chosen it to be.
Today I can sing it and I mean every single word I sing. I have come to know Father in a way that is very special to me, and even though some days I need to remind myself of the truths, I do know He is good.
Yes, some of my journey was meant for evil and to do harm to me, BUT in all that happened, I know that God meant it for good, and that I am now in the place God has for me. (Genesis 50:20).
Some days our journey seems hard and it is harder to sing the words, but that is okay. It bothers me more that people sing and don't stop to think about the words they are singing. I encourage you to think about whether you can honestly say when someone has died, someone has left or someone is sick - that God IS worthy to be praised and even though something has been "taken away" - Will you still praise Him and called Him "Blessed"?
I know a few people that can't sing this song, and that is okay; there may be more growth to happen there. For me, I choose to say it, whether my feelings are always in agreement or not. I do not understand all of His ways; BUT I know, that I know, that I know - He is GOOD, He is FAITHFUL and HE IS IN CONTROL.
I want to encourage us to be aware of the words we say (and sing). And if we can't sing a particular song and mean it, maybe hum along and ask Father what's in the way of singing it. In His faithfulness, He will show you, for He desires you to be free.
That's a thought for today, Til next time
Jacqueline
2 comments:
Back when I first heard this song, it was being introduced to us as a new song at our church. Life was reasonably good for most of us in my small circle of friends, faces that overlapped among a Sunday school class, a weekly meeting, women's groups, and a few home-school families. The problems were few among us, I had the only little baby in the bunch, and a friend had finally conceived twins after many years of trying to have another, her 'babies' were 9 and 11.
Nice song, easily singable, and I loved it from the start.
And then on a Friday night, sometime when my pregnant friend was around 20 weeks along, I got one of those calls... She's in labor, gone to the hospital, just pray. I still remember the feeling of being kicked on the gut, knowing that even singleton babies don't do so good at 20 weeks, there was no way....
There wasn't. Neither one lived beyond an hour.
And two days later, at church, there we were singing that new favorite song of everyone's. I wished then that our worship leader had shown more sensitivity or something. And how could he possibly do that song when the biggest ugliest hole in the universe had swallowed those two precious boys, my heart, and probably everyone else's whose lives had been blessed by our friend and were looking forward to those new lives?
I remember standing and attempting to sing as I held my little one in his sling and failing miserably, so much so that I wound up in the back with the Kleenex box instead, with a few ready eyed others.
It took some time, and some of those long nights with Him before I could sing it, but eventually... Yeah, I came around, He is good, in all things, even when the circumstances aren't in our favor, and the breaths that number our days are fewer than we could have even begun to guess.
Thanks for sharing. Bless you sister!
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