He gives Songs in the Night
There’s a type of bird that for centuries has been called a Nightingale. Nightingale gets its name from the Old English words "niht" meaning "night" and "galan" meaning "to sing.” So the name attached to this bird essentially means "night singer."
I imagine that people whose sleep was disturbed at night for one reason or another were struck by the sound of birds singing in the darkness. Hence, they came to be known as night singers. I have no doubt that the beautiful sounds of the Nightingale soothed the disturbed souls of many and helped them fall asleep.
As I was meditating on Psalm 77 today I thought about a young lady named,
Jane "Nightbirde" Marczewski. She appeared as a contestant on the show America's Got Talent. (See her audition here)
Besides her beautiful voice, what made her appearance on the show so memorable and moving was that she was battling terminal cancer at the time. She sang her original song “It’s Ok” with cancer in her spine, lungs, and liver, and while knowing that she only had a 2% chance of survival according to the doctors.
Jane got her stage name from a recurring dream she had of birds singing outside her window at night, as if it were morning. Their singing not only soothed her soul, but she wanted to embody the idea of being able to sing through dark times, full of hope that there would be a morning. When one of the judges asked her how she could sing while battling cancer, she said, “I’m not the sum total of the bad things that happen to me.” She also said, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.”
Nightbirde, Jane, who was a Christian, learned something from the birds in her dreams singing in the night. Moreover, she no doubt understood from passages like Psalm 77 to not stop singing even when night falls and darkness seems to engulf our lives.
In the first few verses of Psalm 77, the Psalmist speaks of a dark time when he continually cried out to God in deep distress.
Although he continually cried out to God, the Psalmist reveals, “my soul refuses to be comforted.” What did he mean by this? Some commentators suggest that he refused to be comforted by superficial things, like food and drink, that under normal circumstances may bring some semblance of happiness. The comfort that he needed was not in anything below. It could only come from above, from God Himself.
Other commentator suggests that he could not be comforted because his prayers did not bring the answers he wished. So the fact that the comfort he sought was to be delivered from whatever problem He suffered, the reality that he wasn’t delivered only led to more frustration.
Earlier I mentioned that Jane said, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.” Is this possible? Can one decide to be happy? I want to submit to you that if we can refuse to be comforted, as the Psalmist did, we can decide to be happy. We can refuse and we can choose.
I’ve often heard preachers make a differentiation between joy and happiness. They say that joy is from the Lord and happiness is based on happenstance or circumstance. This differentiation can be helpful in understanding how we can make a choice to rejoice.
But I think it’s important to clarify the the scriptures don’t pit joy and happiness against each other. In fact, the word "blessed" in the scriptures (Matthew 5) means "happy." Joy and happiness are synonyms along with other words like delight, pleasure, and rejoice. The point is that we should find joy, happiness, and pleasure in certain circumstances, like, for example, the birth of a child.
But if you're struggling with infertility, and believe that you can only be happy if you have a child, than you will struggle to find joy and happiness in any other way. You will refuse to be comforted in other ways.
Let me emphasize that I’m not minimizing the pain of infertility, or any other pain that you may be experiencing because of difficult circumstances. The key to experiencing the joy of the Lord is not found in denying the pain you may be experiencing.
There’s a false teaching that is pervasive in many churches today that says it’s never God’s will for a Christian to go through hardships, like infertility or cancer. And if you are, you either lack faith to be healed or are in sin. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Jesus Himelf said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
We don’t have to deny our painful circumstances or even be delivered from them to experience happiness, but we do have to look to another source other than our favorable circumstances or fulfilled expectations to experience delight and happiness. We must stop refusing to be comforted unless we receive what we desire and instead make a choice to rejoice. We can make a choice to rejoice by deciding to think differently and look elsewhere to find the comfort and joy of the Lord.
The psalmist did more than bring his problem to the Lord. He writes:
“I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, 'Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.' Then my spirit made a diligent search:” Psalm 77:5-6
He made a decision to not just focus on his problem, but on the person and promises of God. He wrote, “I consider the days of old…” And in the rest of Psalm 77, He doesn’t fixate on his problems, but on the holiness of God, His greatness, wonders, and redemption.
Moreover, the psalmist spoke of not only thinking about the days of old, but also said this:
In his dark night, the psalmist remembered, he recalled the greatness of God, the promises of God, and songs that he sang or wrote, as he focused on God in other difficult times.
During a dark time in Job’s life, a young man (Elihu) spoke to him saying: “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,'” Job 35:9-10
Commenting on this passage, Charles Spurgeon, who battled with serious health problems which also led to depression, wrote:
Writing about how Charles Spurgeon tuned to the promises of God in his times of pain and depression, Zack Eswine in his book "Spurgeon Sorrows," wrote this about the promises of God:
In Acts 16:25 we read: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,”
Like Paul and Silas in their midnight hour, let us not deny our pain, but, as the old hymns declare, turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full into His wonderful face. When darkness seems to hide His face, let us rest on His unchanging grace. He gives songs in the night.
-Pastor Marco
I imagine that people whose sleep was disturbed at night for one reason or another were struck by the sound of birds singing in the darkness. Hence, they came to be known as night singers. I have no doubt that the beautiful sounds of the Nightingale soothed the disturbed souls of many and helped them fall asleep.
As I was meditating on Psalm 77 today I thought about a young lady named,
Jane "Nightbirde" Marczewski. She appeared as a contestant on the show America's Got Talent. (See her audition here)
Besides her beautiful voice, what made her appearance on the show so memorable and moving was that she was battling terminal cancer at the time. She sang her original song “It’s Ok” with cancer in her spine, lungs, and liver, and while knowing that she only had a 2% chance of survival according to the doctors.
Jane got her stage name from a recurring dream she had of birds singing outside her window at night, as if it were morning. Their singing not only soothed her soul, but she wanted to embody the idea of being able to sing through dark times, full of hope that there would be a morning. When one of the judges asked her how she could sing while battling cancer, she said, “I’m not the sum total of the bad things that happen to me.” She also said, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.”
Nightbirde, Jane, who was a Christian, learned something from the birds in her dreams singing in the night. Moreover, she no doubt understood from passages like Psalm 77 to not stop singing even when night falls and darkness seems to engulf our lives.
In the first few verses of Psalm 77, the Psalmist speaks of a dark time when he continually cried out to God in deep distress.
“In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.” Psalm 77:2
Although he continually cried out to God, the Psalmist reveals, “my soul refuses to be comforted.” What did he mean by this? Some commentators suggest that he refused to be comforted by superficial things, like food and drink, that under normal circumstances may bring some semblance of happiness. The comfort that he needed was not in anything below. It could only come from above, from God Himself.
Other commentator suggests that he could not be comforted because his prayers did not bring the answers he wished. So the fact that the comfort he sought was to be delivered from whatever problem He suffered, the reality that he wasn’t delivered only led to more frustration.
Earlier I mentioned that Jane said, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.” Is this possible? Can one decide to be happy? I want to submit to you that if we can refuse to be comforted, as the Psalmist did, we can decide to be happy. We can refuse and we can choose.
I’ve often heard preachers make a differentiation between joy and happiness. They say that joy is from the Lord and happiness is based on happenstance or circumstance. This differentiation can be helpful in understanding how we can make a choice to rejoice.
But I think it’s important to clarify the the scriptures don’t pit joy and happiness against each other. In fact, the word "blessed" in the scriptures (Matthew 5) means "happy." Joy and happiness are synonyms along with other words like delight, pleasure, and rejoice. The point is that we should find joy, happiness, and pleasure in certain circumstances, like, for example, the birth of a child.
But if you're struggling with infertility, and believe that you can only be happy if you have a child, than you will struggle to find joy and happiness in any other way. You will refuse to be comforted in other ways.
Let me emphasize that I’m not minimizing the pain of infertility, or any other pain that you may be experiencing because of difficult circumstances. The key to experiencing the joy of the Lord is not found in denying the pain you may be experiencing.
There’s a false teaching that is pervasive in many churches today that says it’s never God’s will for a Christian to go through hardships, like infertility or cancer. And if you are, you either lack faith to be healed or are in sin. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Jesus Himelf said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
We don’t have to deny our painful circumstances or even be delivered from them to experience happiness, but we do have to look to another source other than our favorable circumstances or fulfilled expectations to experience delight and happiness. We must stop refusing to be comforted unless we receive what we desire and instead make a choice to rejoice. We can make a choice to rejoice by deciding to think differently and look elsewhere to find the comfort and joy of the Lord.
The psalmist did more than bring his problem to the Lord. He writes:
“I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, 'Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.' Then my spirit made a diligent search:” Psalm 77:5-6
He made a decision to not just focus on his problem, but on the person and promises of God. He wrote, “I consider the days of old…” And in the rest of Psalm 77, He doesn’t fixate on his problems, but on the holiness of God, His greatness, wonders, and redemption.
Moreover, the psalmist spoke of not only thinking about the days of old, but also said this:
“'Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.' Then my spirit made a diligent search:” Psalm 77:6
In his dark night, the psalmist remembered, he recalled the greatness of God, the promises of God, and songs that he sang or wrote, as he focused on God in other difficult times.
During a dark time in Job’s life, a young man (Elihu) spoke to him saying: “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,'” Job 35:9-10
Commenting on this passage, Charles Spurgeon, who battled with serious health problems which also led to depression, wrote:
“Elihu’s reason is right in the majority of cases. The great cause of a Christian’s distress, the reason of the depths of sorrow into which many believers are plunged, is simply this — that while they are looking about, on the right hand and on the left, to see how they may escape their troubles, they forget to look to the hills whence all real help cometh; they do not say, ‘Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?’”
Writing about how Charles Spurgeon tuned to the promises of God in his times of pain and depression, Zack Eswine in his book "Spurgeon Sorrows," wrote this about the promises of God:
“1) Promises aren’t magic. They resemble love letters more than incantations, statements of truth more than immunity passes. They often forge, not a pathway for escape from life, but an enablement to endure what assails us.
(2) Promises differ from our desires, as tender and valued as our desires are to God. Not only must we distinguish our desires from God’s promises, but we also need help to make sure that what we lean upon is something that God has actually promised.
What God has promised is to be with us, to weep with us, to celebrate with us, to help us, to strengthen us, to never let us go and to outlast every evil and terrible thing with us. His love, His purposes, and His goodness will never quit and no foul thing will ever overcome them. These kinds of “with us, for us, understands us, nothing can separate us” promises are like berries ripe and ready for our tasting. Health, wealth and immunity pledges are like wormed apples. They look good until you take a deeper bite.
3) Promises return us to Jesus. In the man of sorrows, the cross and the victory of the empty tomb preach to us about the sufferer who is King. The promises of God are “yes and amen” in Him (2 Cor. 1:20). He will have the final word. He is the rescuer who regardless of our condition to adequately hold on, looks us in the eyes and says, “I’ve come for you. Home waits. Nothing will separate us again. Nothing.”
In Acts 16:25 we read: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,”
Like Paul and Silas in their midnight hour, let us not deny our pain, but, as the old hymns declare, turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full into His wonderful face. When darkness seems to hide His face, let us rest on His unchanging grace. He gives songs in the night.
-Pastor Marco