His Song

             By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:8)

          The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.  (Zephaniah 3:17)

          When it says the Lord directs his love, there can be two understandings. The first is that He directs whatever His love is toward us. His love is given to us. The second is that He directs us because we are His love. His love is given through us. While I often don’t like ambiguity, in this case, it’s accurate. God can and does do both because loving someone often involves directing them. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.

Another intriguing idea that connects the two verses above is that they  connect God, love, and singing. Lots of verses speak of God’s love but these add singing and songs and that has me thinking. First, let’s acknowledge that there is a lot even people with good hearing can’t hear. Elephants communicate using infrasound, which is around 5 Hz. Humans can’t hear below 20. Bats can “sing” and hear in the ultrasound range. NASA listens to sounds from pulsars and other galaxies using machines. It is possible that God, just by being God, may have a song or sound.

A second idea comes to mind. A composer of a song chooses what instruments or voices should provide what notes, so listening to His song at night may include all of the voices of nature in a grand chorus. And as each creature sings its part, it is singing a prayer to God according to its part.  And, in spite of all our sin, weakness, and failure, He still rejoices with singing over us.