“How
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” Psalms 137:4
Satan desires to make inroads into our
minds and torture us with doubt, fear and unrest. So much of what we see
and hear influences the condition of our thoughts; whether we choose to admit
it or not. As the noise and commotion of the city drowns out the sweet
song of a sparrow. So this world will drown out the Lord’s song in your
life, if you let it. “It will rob you of your joy and take your peace.” (Uncle
Ray) However, we have a firm defense against it all, for the scripture
tells us “thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” (Isaiah 26:3)
People everywhere are in search for peace;
in many different respects and through many different avenues. However,
only Jesus can bring you into perfect peace, and once you are brought to
perfect peace he will keep you there; if you do your part. This is not to say that there will never be
times when the connection was not so strong and the glory waves so
prevalent. Perhaps you have recently experienced times of confusion and
cloudiness; through no fault of your own, it’s just your turn in the fog.
That being said, I am coming to believe that, more often than not we open doors
for the devil to invade our mind. We invite him in through the avenue of
what we see and listen to. This is the danger of television, movies,
worldly music……….. “Wait! Wait! Wait! Hold on now their brother.
That’s legalism.” Legalism, legalism! That is the cry often heard
when this avenue of conversation is persuade, but let us stop and
consider. Lower your swords for just a moment and think rationally, Biblically.
If you daily fill your mind with images and sounds of violence and aggression,
is there a wonder why you struggle to find peace? Feeding our minds with a steady diet of
violence, murder, lust, and all manned ungodly action; then we wonder why there
is no praise in our heart; no burden for lost souls, and little communion with
God? A constant stream of images and sounds to conjure violence, conjure
lust, or pride, and perhaps worst of all, indifference. The unyielding rhythmic
beat of the world that makes you numb to God, and to the Spirit’s keen sting of
correction. One might now say, “well brother, you can live in a cave your
whole life and experience all these ungodly tempers; and moreover, there are
those who are just as proud and haughty about what they abstain from.” If
you make these claims (whether audible or inaudible) you would be quite
correct, but this is hardly a reason to throw the matter out entirely and
ingest every ungodly notion of worldly entertainment. Please believe me
when I say this is not an attempt to isolate something in anyone’s life and
judge it unholy. For as soon as I would cast my judgment, you could find
something in my life to cast judgment at. Then we would be throwing
stones at each other and what would that profit the Kingdom of God?
Rather this is a short appeal in love, a small effort to bring into light an
enemy which is operating in the invisible. An attempt to bring to the
table of discussion the invisible invader; who would have us forget to
discipline our minds. Forget to hone our thoughts. Forget to be
careful of what we see hear and ascribe to.
This enemy desires to invade and steal us away into a strange
land. Where we can no longer sing the Lord’s song or hear his sweet
voice; and all this injustice to be done within the cavity of our own minds,
and without our realization.
The things of this world are a stranger to
the Christian; and the constant intake of the world produces an atmosphere of
it in your mind until you cannot sing the Lord’s song anymore. It doesn't happen overnight, but, by and by you forget how to sing of love, of deliverance, of peace. You cannot sing because you cannot hear his voice (I speak from
experience). If the melody of the Spirit is lost in the commotion of the
world; remove the hindrance, make a flight to prayer, and take the Word of God. Begin again to migrate back to God and out of
the strange land, until you can hear the Savior’s voice once more; and sing the
Lord’s song.
