Moses and the children of Israel have just been saved decisively from their enemies. It is natural for them to want to sing a song “to the Lord”. The words of the text give us the reasons for their jubilation. First and foremost is that in their mind, God is “highly exalted”. He is made lofty in their sight because He has defeated their enemies. In so doing, not only does He become their salvation, but also their strength and their very song or expression.
For each of the singers, He has become a “personal God” and each will praise Him personally as did each of their fathers. They know Him by name – He is the Lord, a warrior who leads them in battles He cannot lose.
As I think about how the Israelites felt at this time, I cannot help but consider my own feelings these last few days. While driving home from visiting our eldest daughter’s family for American Thanksgiving, I received a call from a friend who wondered if our 8-year old grandson back home was okay. Bill had heard on the radio there was a hit-and-run accident on our street, just a block away. Our hearts sank. (It turned out that it was a 12-year old that our eldest granddaughter knew and at the point of writing, though he would need several operations, it was believed he would pull through.) The next day we attended a memorial service for our little grandson Ronin who we had buried just six months ago after he lived for only six hours. And there are always the challenges of working with ministry personnel. Plus family issues we all deal with – some we just have to accept as fact for there is nothing we can do about them. And finally -- something that causes a lot of frustration for baby boomers these days -- I spent over two hours on the phone trying to fix something on my computer, only to have to take it in for a major overhaul. Many others reading this had it much worse. So how then do I, do we, say melodically, “I will sing to the Lord!”
Well, for starters, I look at this passage of Scripture and decide whether or not it applies to me as well. Is God still my Lord? Is He still worthy of high exaltation? Am I still alive because He has dealt decisively with my enemies? Is He still my one and only true strength? Is He my everlasting salvation? Is He still a warrior who goes to battle for me?
I responded with six resounding ‘yesses’. As a result I can still “sing to and of” Him. I can “praise” and “extol” Him whose name is Lord. What about you these days?
When God saves us, He does not remove us from the day-to-day
challenges of life. He simply embraces
us with Himself. But that was all that
the children of Israel needed as they spent the next forty years in the
wilderness. It is all we need to make it
through our earthly trek. Keep on ‘going
on’. The reasons for
singing have not changed.
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