“‘Write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel…’ Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel…
“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!
“The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he…
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations…
“He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
the Lord alone guided him…
He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,..
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods…
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods…
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth...
“If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!” Deuteronomy 31:19,30; 32:1-4,6b-7a,10-18,29
The Lord instructed Moses for Israel and us, to remember Who He was and always would be. This song would be oft repeated through generations, a testimony to the intimate loving grace and care of God for His beloved children and their idolatrous, hard hearts. It’s vital to spiritual wellbeing to recognize the contrast.
The air around us is filled with songs and jingles, some relished and repeated, some stuck as ear worms. How keen is our filter? What tweets and tunes hum in our heads? Whose voice, what social mantras have become our mental and verbal playlist? Do we intone we tirades or triumphs? If we regularly mimic others’ rants, syncopated sound bites, or off-color humor, how will we retune our hearts to a song of God-honoring testimony?
How redolent of Christ is my tongue? How will I begin to replace mad and melancholy with melodies, criticism with choruses of praise? What will I today recount of God’s manifold deeds with gratitude?
“We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” ~ C. S. Lewis
“Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.” ~Frances Ridley Havergal (1874)
Amen!
As the rain and snow 