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The Comfort of an Old Hymn · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Bart Leger: Gerald Wolfe had played gospel music his whole
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  but the moment that changed him came in his father's bedside.
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  His dad was near the end. The conversations had grown short
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  then, pretty rare. The man who raised him was slipping
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  somewhere Gerald couldn't follow, and most there wasn't much left
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  to say. One day, Gerald started an old hymn, one his father had
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  sung a thousand times over the years. He wasn't expecting
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  anything. He just wanted to fill the room with something familiar.
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  We'll come back to what his father did next, but
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  first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm
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  Bart Leger. I'll admit, modern worship songs usually move me
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  the most. That's just how I'm wired. But then, I'll read the
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  lyrics of some old hymns, the ones written a century or two
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  ago, and the words have a depth to them. Both kinds of music can
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  reach us, and the old hymns still move many people, even
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  today. Maybe you felt that too. There's a comfort that comes
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  when you hear the first few notes of a song you've known
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  what seems like forever. Maybe it's a hymn you sang as a kid,
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  standing next to your mom and dad in the pew, holding the
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  hymnal that they held. Maybe it's the one they play at every
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  funeral you've ever been to. Before you've thought about a
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  single word, something in you remembers these moments. The
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  music has been holding that memory for you, keeping it safe,
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  connected to a time and a person you loved. And when life gets to
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  be too much, that melody can reach a place plain words can't.
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  Paul knew about this, and he built it into how the church was
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  meant to live.
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  how Paul says the word of Christ takes up residence in us. And
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  then he named singing as one of the ways that happens. Psalms
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  and hymns and spiritual songs. Paul understood that singing
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  does something, teaching alone can't. A truth you only hear you
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  might forget by Friday. A truth you've sung a hundred times gets
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  down inside you and it stays. That's why the words come back
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  when almost everything else is gone. Here's what that means for
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  you, especially if your soul feels a bit dry right now. When
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  you can't seem to pray, when Bible reading feels like a chore
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  and God feels so far off, you don't have to force your way
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  back with more effort. Try putting on a hymn you loved as a
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  kid or some worship song that has meant something to you.
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  Don't analyze it. Just let it play and let the words come back
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  on their own. may find that the song is praying for you when you
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  can't, working truth back into you that you couldn't have
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  reasoned your way to. Sometimes God meets you in a melody you
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  forgot you knew. Gerald's father started to sing. The words that
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  had left him in conversation came back the second the melody
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  did, verse after verse, like they'd been waiting there the
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  whole time. That was the last song they'd ever shared and it
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  planted a question in Gerald that wouldn't let him go about
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  how many other people were locked away like that with the
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  hymn still able to reach them. So he started recording old hymn
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  sayings and mailing the DVDs to nursing homes free to anyone who
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  would take one. They've gone out to nearly 16,000 of them. In
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  room after room, people who can't hold a conversation open
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  their mouths and sing every word. Think about what happened in
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  that room. Gerald's father had lost the words for conversation.
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  The hymn reached deeper than conversation, a place the
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  disease hadn't touched and the song came out whole. That tells
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  you something about how God wired us. He put his truth in us
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  in a form that outlasts almost everything else. When the mind
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  fades and the words go, the song might still be there and it can
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  still lead a person straight to him. Here is today's challenge.
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  Sometime today, put on a hymn or worship song that has always
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  meant something to you and don't multitask through it. Sit down
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  and sing along if you can, even under your breath. Let the words
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  preach to you the way they used to. If your faith has felt dry,
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  let a song you already know remind your soul of what it
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  already believes. Father, thank you for the gift of song and
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  putting your truth in us in a way that lasts. When our own
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  words run out, when our minds tire and our faith runs dry,
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  meet us in the music. Bring the old songs back to mind and let
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  them say what we can't. Thank you that even when almost
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  everything else fades, the truth we've sung stays with us and it
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  still leads us home to you. In Jesus' name, amen. If you need
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  prayer today, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a
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  voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
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  slash voicemail. I listen to every single one and it would be
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  an honor to bring your name before the Lord. Thanks for
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  joining me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, when
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  words fail and your soul feels dry, God can meet you in a
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  melody you forgot you knew. Put on the old song and let it lead
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  you back. Come back next time for more encouragement to help
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  you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a
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  great day.