The Song of a New Heart (3)

“And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD.” There is no doubt that this refers to all that has gone before. There the prophet said, “I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away…Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song.” Now with joy I may pull water out of the wells of salvation. Therefore, because the Lord has been so good to me, I shall now praise and thank Him.

I know they are often missing, but there are many reasons to thank the Lord. Think of the days of life the Lord continues to bestow upon us. It is the hand of the Lord that provides all our daily needs. It is the hand of the Lord that provides all those means that have to do with our spiritual life. Do you think it is by chance that we have the ordinances of the Lord; that He so faithfully comes with His blessed Word and continues to lay it in our hearts? In that day, I will thank the LORD. He continues to call, “Turn ye unto me.” He continues to lay before us the only Way, descended from heaven, in His dearly beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In that day I will thank the LORD.

Today, and every day, the Lord has a people who want to thank Him for that precious one-sided work when He came to a sinner who had never known before what it is to be a lost sinner. He came to open his eyes for a mountain of sin and for an angry God. Then we do not know where to go. It was the Holy Spirit who crushed the unbroken heart, who opened an avenue of prayer, and awakened in that sorrowing heart the desire to cast that anchor of hope that it may sink deep in the mediatorial ground of a suffering and dying Saviour. What a wonder it becomes when the Lord gives a ray of hope in the heart and when that heart may cast it as an anchor unto Jesus Christ. In that day, I want to thank the LORD.

As you read this, do you know the Song of a New Heart? This song may, at times, be known by a heart which experiences no more than a missing—a seeking and burdened heart. Often you stand outside of any communion for your soul. Then you cannot find this song in your heart. What you find in your heart is a cry the same as David’s in Psalm 130, “Lord, hear my voice: let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”

The wonder of this is that a gracious God in His beloved Son will not despise that cry. When the eye of faith may now rest upon the beloved One; when these eyes may now see how He came from the right hand of the Father to heal the breach between me and a holy, righteous God; when now I may see that there is an Ark wherein the doors are open and above that door is written, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden”; when the Lord grants me to come upon the way opened in His blood, then there are times I may hear the melody of the Song of a New Heart. I long to have that song in my heart; I pray that the song may be to Christ’s honor and glory. Then such a sinner may begin to sing, “In that day, I will thank Thee.”

Dear reader, do you belong to those who may thank the Lord, saying, “Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me”? How is that possible? It is possible in Him who came from His Father’s right hand and who healed the breach so that for a wretch who is lost a way may be opened. Now the deeper you may look into your wretched pit of sin, the higher you may look to above, so high that you may see a complete Saviour for a complete wretch. In that day you will with praise want to thank the LORD for His salvation.

Today, lift your empty hands unto this triune God— Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—and say, “Thou art great in the wonder of free and sovereign grace.” Sinners, who may sing the Song of a New Heart, long to do so to the honor and glory of Him who came and sought them when they did not seek a Saviour, a Saviour who came to lift them out of the mire they have chosen. They learn that He came to pay the price so that the breach between them and a holy God may be healed. Such will thank and praise the LORD forever.

(To be continued)

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