Devotionals

Midnight Melody

A Christian pilgrim’s midnight melody becomes a sweet and powerful God’s song when it is sung in the night

When the life’s midday sun suddenly gets quenched in the midnight gloom, God’s consolations begin to bloom and rings a melody deep down in the heart of His own. They are so divine, varied, and rich that it keeps them going till morning.

The golden Hymn- ‘It is well with my Soul’ was written after traumatic events and tragic circumstances in Horatio Spafford’s life. He lost his son, and his business interests were severely hit by the 1873 Chicago fire’s economic downturn, and he planned to travel to Europe with his family on the ship. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on the business. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone’’. Shortly afterward, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write the above-cited words as his ship passed near, where his daughters had died.

It is challenging to sing in the night season of the soul. But place your broken heart in God’s hands; He will mend and retune it to sing beautiful melodies once again. “… God my maker, who gives songs in the night’’ (Job 35:10). When others gaze at you with pity in your sufferings, God will marvel at them by giving you the sweetest song in your darkest night. Jesus, our perfect example, led His disciples in a piece in His most desperate hour [Mathew 26:30], when tears or silence would have been much more appropriate from a human perspective.

At night His song is with me.

Psalms 42:8

O pilgrim, raise your song for He calls you to bear witness at midnight! When the folks around you see the difference that Jesus makes in the worst moments of life, they will want what you have. When Paul and Silas lay in prison, beaten, bloodied, and chained, their fellow prisoners heard them singing, and the jailer was led to Christ (Acts 16:25-29). And of course, when the mantle of night weighed heavily on David and other psalmists, they sent songs into the darkness.

We may be passing through many a night—nights of sorrow, of persecution, of sickness, of humiliation, of anxiety, —nights of all kinds. The narrow path that leads to Almighty is only through the prickles of the road of suffering and endurance. Yet God will give all His blood-bought ones the ability to sing in the night. His grace helps them to choose joy and trust God. It was a divine melody which Habakkuk sang when in the night of adversity, he said— “Though the fig tree does not bud…yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

The nightingale sings most sweetly in the stillness of the night. And likewise, a Christian pilgrim’s Midnight melody becomes a sweet and powerful God’s song when it is sung in the night. Sorrowful pilgrim, quit murmuring, charging God with harshness and stigmatizing His dealings as unkind. Rather rejoice at the occurrence of afflictions and keep singing the midnight melody that will propel you to a life filled with the power of God Himself.

ELIZABETH MATHEW

Elizabeth Mathew is a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian. As a former Vice Principal, she had a close association with educators, parents, and children. She enjoys the nature and personality of kids and the attributes they carry. Her passion is to spiritually nurture the Body of Christ through her articles and poetry. She has been involved in Sunday School ministry and in leading secular schools in UAE for over two decades. Elizabeth currently resides in Muscat, Oman, with her husband, Mr. Abraham Mathew, and two children, Abel and Lovina.