A Song Only I Can Sing

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-18

Today's Treasure: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be," (Psalm 139:16b).

Yesterday was my twenty-fifth birthday. It was a wonderful day and the Lord spoiled me with lots of love and gifts as He has done every year. There was something different about this one, though. Twenty-five years is a quarter of a century. At least one fourth of my life has already been spent. What a weird feeling!

When I woke up that morning I felt the weight of twenty-five years on my heart. Even if the Lord doesn't give me one more day, I've had a generous portion of years to live out. Don't worry, I didn't count the days. (But if I had, it would have been approximately 9,125.) I was wondering, but afraid to ask, What is the Lord's appraisal of my life? By now I have no excuses. I've known Him since early childhood and I've had plenty of time to grow in my faith and put it into action. Have I done enough for Him? How much have I missed because I was busy with lesser things? I wasted a lot of years between middle school and college. Are my growing years starting to outweigh the stagnant years?

I'm happy to say that as I bounded down the stairs on the way to my quiet time spot, the Lord changed my heart. Instead of thinking of all I have or haven't done in my life, the Holy Spirit began to give me thoughts about how much He had done in my life. I must say, He's a hard worker.

My heart suddenly began to flood with praise and gratitude to God. The fear I had of His condemnation was replaced with peace and worship. The weight on my heart changed from burdensome to pleasant. I was overwhelmed by God's goodness to act in my life and reveal Himself to me. It's not about what I have done, but what He has done. What freedom! As my mom and I often ask each other, Want He more praise? Yes!

My praise became so furious that I feared the friction of the pen on my prayer journal page might start a holy fire. I praised Him with big words, with simple words, with song phrases and with Scripture. I praised Him with the "5 statement pledge of faith" from Believing God. As someone who's crazy about His creatures, I even praised God according to Job 38:41 for providing "food for the raven when its young cry out to [Him] and wander about for lack of food." I realize this verse may not move everyone, but I'm pretty sure I had tears dripping off my face at this point.

Then thoughts started crossing my mind that brought my pen to a standstill. What praise can my feeble human mind give Him that has not already been given? He wants more praise! And I want to give it to Him! His mind is infinite; man's mind is not. Surely every wonderful thing a person can say to God has already been said. I know He doesn't mind hearing praises He's already heard before. I know He looks on the heart when we worship. But what if I want to offer a new praise? A different praise? A praise that's never been given before?

Do you know what He spoke to my heart? Amanda, your unique praise to Me is to walk out your life on the one-of-a-kind path I've given you. I have specially designed this path for My praise, from your life.

Everything He's laid out for your life and mine has been meant for His praise. Our individual lives are songs only we can sing to Him. If we fail to sing our songs to Him, He will never hear them. He picked us to live these lives, these paths and these circumstances. With new determination I want to live mine unto Him as worship.

This revelation was particularly timely because less than two weeks ago the Lord moved my husband and me to a new city. God has affirmed time and time again that we are in His will. Scripture tells me that He determined the times set for me and the exact places I should live (Acts 17:26b). He knew I would find myself here. I'm full of joy and very excited. Even so, it was my first time to be away from my mom on my birthday. I tried really hard not to let it bother me, but there was a lump in my throat all day. Mom said it's because the day of my birth mostly involved the two of us. That makes sense, doesn't it?

Because of the Lord's design, I was able to offer a unique praise to Him yesterday as I celebrated my twenty-fifth birthday through laughter and tears. The path ahead of me may bring a lot more laughter, or it may hold an abundance of tears. He only lets me see a few steps at a time, so I don't know. In view of the uncertainty of the life ahead, it encourages me to know that living my life unto Him is unique worship. I may not be creative enough to come up with original words, phrases or emotions to praise Him with, but He is creative enough to ordain unique praise from my one-of-a-kind life.

Lord, thank You for being active in the lives of men. Thank You for revealing Yourself to us and for handcrafting our lives. Please help me walk willingly and faithfully down this path You've created. Thank You for being my companion as I walk. Receive my life as a unique song of praise, for Your glory alone. In Jesus' name, amen.

© Copyright, Amanda Jones, 2004