The Journey 191 by Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla

Read: Psalms 30           
         Shout to the Lord: Who does not know this famous and wonderful song. I first heard this song when I was a part of the Kuwait Marthoma Church Praise and Worship Team, who taught this song for their VBS in the year 2000, and from then on this song was one of my favourites. It is estimated that this song is sung by around 25 to 30 million church goers every week through out the world.  The writer of this song is an Australian, named Darlene Zschech. She is  is acclaimed all over the world as a singer, songwriter, worship leader and speaker, but her most famous role is that of  spearheading the music that comes from Hillsong Church. But how did this wonderful song come about? According to  Darlene Zschech,  she was going through some of the dark days of her life. It seemed to her that everything was on the top of her, and she could not carry the weight of the burden any longer and that is when she felt she had to turn to the Lord.  Desperate for His peace, she opened to the Psalms. As she sat at the old piano, she began tinkling the keys and the song "Shout to the Lord" was born.  Darlene states that the piano was a gift from her parents when she was five years old. That is how the song was born. From the depths of despair, Darlene moved to the heights of faith. The melody of the song is simple while the lyrics are from the Psalms 96. “Shout To The Lord” was written at time when a child of God ran to her Lord, seeking Him in the midst of desperation.  Even today as we sing this song, what the song and the song writer helps us is to experience  faith, strength and peace for everyone who is going through pain, despair and frustration just exactly the way the song writer Darlene experienced the day she wrote it. Singing and shouting to the Lord, when the going is tough.
                         This week we are  meditating on the theme : Transformation in the life of the sick and the suffering”. The Bible portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Psalms 30.  In this Psalm we find David is crying for help. David was feeling very low and downcast since he felt like that his soul in Sheol; living as though he was in a great pit. For David he felt that he was stuck, helpless, and down in the dumps. David’s cries for help and God hears his cries and thus he praises God for lifting him up from the pit and restoring him. But David learns a valuable lesson. David realizes that while he was imperfect, broken, all bruised and  vulnerable, life gives him an opportunity to evaluate ones life. The solution to face predicament, sorrows, despair is by praising God and it is this attitude of praise that leads to a totally new perspective in life. It is this new attitude that makes David to sing and dance. What David is teaching is that, when we face situation where we feel that we are stuck and has no where to go, in despair, lets start singing and dancing. The ability to sing, smile and dance when our whole world look dark and weary is what faith in our Lord could bring to a Christian. Darlene through her song told others to “Shout to the Lord” when things were going tough, David teaches us to dance and sing when the going gets tough. God want us to praise and sing even when life seems to be tough. That is the antidote for suffering.

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