There was an awe about the place.
She did a tremendous job.
Some people need a backing track, some people are conditioned to require some sort of accompaniment, yet she was comfortable enough with the song to start it off and sing boldly. Eventually the rest of us joined her. We sang and saw that there was a liberty to just sing as we were. It wasn’t a big deal to be on point where tuning was concerned or the rhythm. We were in accord singing the song, because this was the song we were singing together. One song flowed naturally into the next. You could say we got lost in it, but what was really going on was an acknowledgement of who we were singing to. And as we sang about Him, we were really singing to Him and He thought it made sense to respond by sharing His presence with us.
It was beautiful.
From that, people received encouragement and reassurance they needed to help them along. From that, folks got inspired to write and get in touch with people. From that, there was such a lift in the demeanour of people. The tears that flowed were not ones of sadness at all – they were of relief, joy and delight at being in the presence of their loving heavenly Father.
There was an awe about the place.
Acts 16 depicts an episode in the missionary journey of Paul and his new Mission Crew. The episode among other things sees Paul and Silas beaten up by the local authorities for disrupting the social order. They did that by having the sheer temerity to liberate a girl from being possessed with demonic spirit who happened to make some of the locals a steady and cushty cash-flow. They weren’t just beaten up, but they were thrown into prison as well for good measure, because that would sort them out.
What we read, however, is remarkable. In that prison, secured under strict instruction, the two prayed and sang to the Lord. They literally had a captive audience as the other cell mates listened in on what these two geezers were doing.
That must have had quite the profound effect on those other prisoners to listen to these two men. Sing and pray. Pray and sing. And in so doing focus their attention on cultivating the presence of their heavenly Father. You know it had a significant impact, because when an earthquake came along and released the shackles from all the prisoners not one of them escaped. Imagine that. Not one of them did a runner. No, not one. You gotta say, that’s a miracle.
Who’s to say, it might have been because of the amazing presence that was experienced particularly by the two who were doing the singing and praying. They didn’t any accompaniment and it’s safe to assume that they weren’t singing the blues about nobody knowing the trouble they’ve seen. It’s safe to assume that, because when the jailer realised the severity of the situation and the possible jail break that would lead to his ultimate dismissal, Paul was on hand to give him two pieces of good news. The first bit was that his job was safe. And then on request, he was able to lead the man to discover how he could be saved – which brought even more joy than the job security.
That flowed because clearly there was an awe about the place.
So we consider our situation today. Where is our focus? Who do we look to for help in our situation? What does that focus do not just in terms of a feel-good factor, but a connection with hope that is worth holding onto? Does it engender praise? Does it elicit a song of thanksgiving?
Is there an awe in the place?
(Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 