Day 13 – Issue 21

Be Still Know

Psalm 27:6 NLT

‘At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.’

As a child I had a wonderful treble voice, I sang solos at school concerts. But as I went through puberty and my voice broke, there seemed so many more important things in life to pursue. I never grew into my adult singing voice, and I still find myself looking for it in every worship setting I enter.

Yet, I have pursued a road of discovery in seeking God’s presence. For  years I followed a morning rhythm consisting of psalms and readings. Rather than engage silently within my headspace I began to speak out the words. By breaking silence I concentrated more on what I was doing. Who is not easily distracted with a mind of jumbled thoughts as we quietly seek to pray? Soon not only was I speaking but also chanting the psalms, much as I had experienced the monks doing so in the morning office during my retreats.

No special music, just finding a tonal range that suited me and off I went, the words of the psalms almost guiding me into a chant that rose and fell with a lovely symmetry. I discovered I was living inside the words of the psalms like never before. Sometimes I stopped mid-psalm as something resonated with the guttural chant itself. My mind was captivated and I meditated on the words or associated thought they’d given birth to. This was so much more exciting and enriching than my years of dutiful ‘quiet times’. Now I was in the very texture of the texts, many familiar as words yet not as adventures of the imagination.

So now I stood before a lighted candle, chanted God’s songs, felt the resonance of my own voice in the core of my being, and knew that I was face-to-face with God in worship.

QUESTION: Are you willing to explore singing God’s songs aloud?

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, let the song of my heart to you burst forth in joy.