This post comes from Calvary Chapel Pastors
Sometimes, despite God’s tremendous love for us, we feel overwhelmed. Great billows of grief, sorrow, and trouble overflow us—and yet, even then, the Lord commands His lovingkindness in the daytime, and His song will be with us in the night. That’s how great His love really is.
Several years ago I was in Pennsylvania speaking at some special services, and one night I became very sick with food poisoning. I returned to my room, with my stomach churning and burning. Oh, I was sick! I couldn’t sleep at all.
As I lay there in utter misery, suddenly a beautiful worship chorus came to me. I had never heard it, but I started to sing it. And then I sang it over and over and over again. It seemed like something straight out of Psalm 42:7-8: “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me—a prayer to the God of my life.”
And so God, in His great mercy and love, gave me a beautiful song on that long night. And I thought, This is a beautiful chorus! I had better get up and write it down. Maybe I can slip downstairs and pick out the tune on the piano, because I don’t want to forget this. I want to teach this to everybody! What a neat chorus of praise and thanksgiving to worship the Lord!
But then another thought immediately occurred to me. If I started plunking on the piano at this hour of the night, I might awaken my host. They will think that I am either crazy, or worse. Maybe I had better not go downstairs.
In fact, I was much too sick to get out of bed. I didn’t even have the strength to turn on the light. So I just kept singing the song, over and over. And I thought, I will never forget this. This is just beautiful!
Finally, I sang myself to sleep.
When I awoke the next morning, the Lord had touched my body. He had healed me and I felt fine—except that I couldn’t remember the chorus. It had left me as quickly as it had come. Oh, how I searched!
I did my best to try to remember it. I even prayed, “Oh Lord, please help me to remember that song.”
But He said, “No, that was just a song for the night—My song to get you through a rough patch.”
How big is the love of God? How much ground does it cover? It covers it all—even to the point of giving a man with a troubled stomach a beautiful song to help him through the night. What other songs does He have to give me? Who knows? But I know that His love will give me whatever I need, whenever I need it.
And His love will do the same for you.
– excerpted from Love The More Excellent Way by Chuck Smith
continue reading the views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of Calvary Southampton
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