Songs in the Night He Giveth

I love praise and worship songs, when they are written with sound theology and sung by sincere hearts. At their best, there is no matching their outpouring of joy and worship. But as a soprano raised in traditional churches, I have a deep and abiding love for the old, old hymns. They manage to say more; there is an entire seminary class packed into some of those reworked pub songs. Selfishly, I am drawn to them because many of them have lovely, soaring ranges that our often alto-centered modern songs lack. And most of all, I love the way God uses them to comfort me--running them through my head at unexpected moments.

Today has been a day of feeling downtrodden by the enormity of the bureaucratic hurdles I have to jump through. So as I was driving home from one such errand, I turned off my radio and just started singing. And the more I sang, the more perspective I got. All of which reminded me of one of my favorite hymns of all time:

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of Heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His—
How can I keep from singing?

I can't say it any better than that.