If life as God intended it is anything, it is a fight for joy. Especially in moments like the one we are in now. Praise God that Christianity is a singing religion. The Lord really does wish for us to have a deep and abiding joy in him, and he often sustains us in joy through our songs:
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” –Colossians 3:16
In my sermon last Sunday, I told the story of a time in my own life when the Lord used a song to drive the clouds away when the darkness wouldn’t lift. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. And it’s why we need to find our psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs right now. We need to find them for each other.
Thanks be to God that Bob Kauflin found one for us. The lyrics and Bob’s words about the song are below. Take it all in, saints, and be ye glad.
A very long time ago, I was in a group called GLAD, and one of our most well-known songs was “Be Ye Glad.” It was written by Michael Kelly Blanchard and is still one of my favorite all-time songs. During the COVID-19 self-isolation season, my daughter, McKenzie Fuller, and I recorded a version. Hope you enjoy it.
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17–18, ESV)
In these days of confused situations
In these nights of a restless remorse
When the heart and soul of a nation
Lay wounded and cold as a corpse
From the grave of the innocent Adam
Comes a song bringing joy to the sad
Oh, your cry has been heard and the ransom
Has been paid up in full, be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad
Now from your dungeon, a rumor is stirring
Though you have heard it again and again
Ah, but this time the cell keys are turning
And outside there are faces of friends
And though your body lay weary from wasting
And your eyes show the sorrow they’ve had
Ah, the love that your heart is now tasting
Has opened the gates, be ye glad
So be like lights on the rim of the water
Giving hope in a storm sea of night
Be a refuge amidst the slaughter
Of these fugitives in their flight
For you are timeless and part of a puzzle
You are winsome and young as a lad
And there is no disease or no struggle
That can pull you from God, be ye glad