A Song in Your Heart
Several years ago before her death, Mrs. Forrest’s niece Betty Rhinehart recalled how her “Aunt Eva†(her special name for Evelyn Forrest) loved music. She said, “The folks always had music in the house up on the hill. Often Aunt Eva would say to someone, ‘Go play the piano for us.’ Then we would all gather in the living room to listen or sing. Sometimes while the music continued, she (Mrs. Forrest) would go to her room and lie down and take a nap. We marveled at the sense of peace she had.†It was obvious to those who knew them that no matter what their circumstances happened to be, the Forrests lived lives of praise and trust in God.
Music can lighten our hearts. When it is sung to the Lord, it has the ability literally to change the way we view our circumstances. When confronted by his enemies, David sang songs of praise and worship to God. He found strength and courage as he recalled the Lord’s intimate love and care for him, especially in times of great stress and difficulty. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,†wrote David. (Psalm 68:19). The Lord is our present help—not just our help in the past or in the future, but our Source of help right now. He is the One who walks beside us through every trial we face. (Psalm 46)
Martin Luther wrote: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.†Henry Ward Beecher underscored this same thought: “Ice breaks many a branch, and so I see a great many persons bowed down and crushed by their afflictions. But now and then I meet one that sings in affliction and then I thank God for my own sake as well as his. There is no such sweet singing as a song in the night.â€
Finally, Dr. Richard Forrest said, “Even in times of great distress, I have tasted of God’s goodness and that is the amen to every song we sing in grateful worship to Him.â€
Taken from the online devotional book A Present Peace © 2009 tfchistory.com
