God’s Comfort Through Music

Music, songs, and lyrics have a way of picking me up when I am down, soothing my soul, celebrating and lifting my mood, or just making me happy. As an orchestra teacher, either listening and singing to music or playing the songs is comforting. I love playing hymns and hearing the words in my head while I play because it is so moving.

The song, “You Got This” is by Love and the Outcome. From the first time I heard the song it spoke to me and rang true. It reminds me that God is in control and not to worry. As someone who worries and is anxious, I need reminding that God is with me and has me, God’s got this and me. The chorus of the song goes like this:

“I don't know the way

But You got this

Give me the faith

That You got this

Even today

You got this

I know that I know that I know that You got this”

“Wonderful, Merciful Savior” by Selah is another song that brings comfort. I heard this song the night of the Uvalde school shooting. I was wrestling with this and just not sure what to do. When I heard this song come on my Pandora app, I had to look up the song right away and sing the lyrics over and over again.  

“Counselor, Comforter, Keeper

Spirit we long to embrace

You offer hope when our hearts have

Hopelessly lost our way

Oh, we've hopelessly lost the way

You are the One that we praise

You are the One we adore

You give the healing and grace

Our hearts always hunger for

Oh, our hearts always hunger for”

We long for God’s embrace when we have lost our way, and when things are not going right, we long for God. I praise God and adore God, but when trouble comes I need to be reminded that God provides healing and grace that our hearts are always hungry for. In troubling times, when things are just not going right in our world, we need God. These lyrics remind us that God is with us. 

The song “Blessings” by Laura Story has helped me when times are tough. I sang this song for comfort when a student of mine was going through a debilitating brain tumor and then during the time of my dad’s cancer and both of their passings. The lyrics remind me that good can come from difficulty, and there can be blessings in strife.

“'Cause, what if your blessings come through raindrops?

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?”

“Blessings” also remind me of Psalms chapter 30 verses 4 and 5 where it says,

“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks

to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favor

is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but

joy comes with the morning.”

I have to know joy will come, the pain can not last, and good is coming. Let us be reminded as we go into this next school year, this next stage in our life, joy is coming.

“You Say” by Lauren Daigle is so powerful. I heard the song so many times and would sing along with it, but it wasn’t until one day while driving in the car that the words really hit me.

“You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing

You say I am strong when I think I am weak

And you say I am held when I am falling short

And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours

And I believe

Oh, I believe

What You say of me

I believe”

What a great reminder that God speaks to us through music and songs and reminds us that we are loved, we are strong, God holds us, and we belong to God. No matter what I say to myself or how I put myself down, God reminds me I am strong and loved. 

Remember these two scriptures that say God with us: 1) Deuteronomy 31:8, “It is the Lord who goes before you.  He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed,” and 2) 1 Chronicle 28:20, “Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.”

Amen.