There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring
And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling
How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives
And I will walk with You
Knowing You'll see me through
And sing the songs You give
How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing 'cause You pick me up
Sing 'cause You're there
I can sing 'cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne
How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart
I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart
I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
Yeah
I can sing!
Yes, I know, I did this song last month. That's how upbeat this song, how much fun it is, how much I enjoy it. You see, while it speaks to that idea of praising God even when we seemingly have no reason to praise Him, it also speaks to the joy and peace that flood over a believer firmly in the grip of grace.
When you can understand the freedom that comes with the grace I spoke about in my last post (Also Chris Tomlin, this time “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone”), when you really experience that freedom for yourself, it is life changing. There is a peace that you cannot begin to imagine until you possess it, and that you cannot describe to those who do not own it. It really does “surpass all understanding”.
But it's more than just peace... it's joy. I'm not talking about a momentary happiness. This isn't the up and down emotional turmoil of the roller coaster of life, where you are happy in one moment and sad the next. This isn't dependent upon the events in your life. Even in your deepest griefs, you are able to cling to this joy. Even in your darkest heartbreaks, this joy shines. When you have no earthly reason to rejoice, the joy that comes with the experience of grace bursts through your life and gives you a reason to rejoice.
Paul gives us a beautiful instruction in his letter to the Philippian church. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Rejoice in the Lord. And not just sometimes, but ALWAYS. And this instruction is so important, that he repeats it. It's as if he's saying “OK, folks, there will be a quiz at the end, and this will be on it. Rejoice! Did you get that? Rejoice!” You see, Beloved, rejoicing, living in this abiding joy, is one of the secrets to living the abundant life that Christ promised us.
I do not have the perfect life. I have many physical limitations and illnesses that trouble me. I struggle with headaches all the time (I've had one every day this week. Can they stop already? Please?) I have problems with my family, people with whom I am unable to have healthy relationships, and so I find I must have no relationship at all, much to my heartbreak. I cannot have children, and yet I have longed for them. I am the survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. My father died when I was 17. There are numerous reasons why I could have turned my back on my faith, rejected God. There are countless reasons to be depressed, or afraid, or lost, or hurt. And when I did not understand Grace, the miraculous power of the love of God and His grace, I struggled with Paul's command to rejoice always. And to be honest, there are still time I struggle (particularly when the pain gets bad).
But that's the thing about grace-fueled joy. It's not based on my circumstances. It's not based on my past, it's not based on my present, it's not based on my future. It's not about who I am, or what I've done, or what I will do. Joy isn't about me. As long as I seek joy IN me, I will struggle, and so will you. But like Grace isn't based on what I've done to earn it, neither is joy.
Joy is founded in and fed by gratefulness to God. When I stop looking at myself, when I stop focusing all that's right or wrong in my life, and I look instead to the God who created me, to the God who loves me, to the God who redeemed me, and who will sing over me in joy when I am with Him in eternity, His joy pours over me. I am able to marvel is the greatness of God. I can stand amazed at the variety of His creation, at the beauty of His world, at the largess of His grace, at His consistancy, His power, His love. I can look at the clouds and enjoy them, knowing that nothing that will come from them is beyond His control. I can look at the grass and trees and marvel at the way they work... and that nothing man has ever built has ever done what plants do the way plants do it on the scale they do it, and isn't it just amazing that God didn't need a drawing board to think it through? Beloved, when I remember who God is, when I remember who I am, and who He's chosen to make me, I am awash in the joy of the Lord. That's rejoicing in the Lord.
God's Love is so big, so expansive, that we cannot begin to grasp it (and oh, what fun it is to try to gasp it, and then pause, and realize you haven't even gotten close, and it's even better than you've even begun to imagine!) I feel like I am a fountain, connected to the great Source of Living Water, and I am constantly being filled, even overfilled, by His Love. I feel like there's no getting close to me without getting splashed... not because of who I am, but because of how BIG He is, how big His love is. It is His love pouring through me that splashes those around me. And so, too, I think, is it with Joy. When I am rejoicing in the Lord, it's almost as if I'm somehow connecting to the Joy that God feels when He looks at His creation, and getting to share some of His joy. It's like plugging into a live wire!
Maybe that's why Christ told us to “abide in Him”... He knew that if we would but seek Him, if we would put Him first in our thoughts and our goals, that we'd plug into that Source of eternal life, and there we would find the Joy that carries us through. He knew what we could not: that we NEED joy to make it through this life we live, in this fallen world. It's why Paul tells us to rejoice... but not just to rejoice, but rejoice in the Lord. They're all telling us to plug in to God's Joy.
Beloved, if you're wondering how we can sing when it would seem we have no reason, I ask you, nay, I beg you, for the sake of your own soul, to find the Grace of God. You will never feel so free, you will never have peace like it, and you will never know the joy that sustains me in the darkest days, until you do. There is nothing in all the world like the Joy of the Lord, nothing. And when you've found Him, then you can join us... because really,
How can I can I keep from singing?!
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