Songs in The Night
”I am in the storm, Lord the storm is not in me
You will be my peace
I’ll wait here, I’ll wait here”
(Matt Redman, “Songs in the Night,” on “Unbroken Praise,” 2015)
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A small excerpt from an email I sent a colleague and friend this week describing the past month for our family:
“It’s been non-stop chaos and our lives have just ground to a halt completely. I've literally been waking up at 3-4am each morning to try and compensate with doing work; I've needed to be so hands-on with Mia and taking care of the family that I have not been able to do hardly anything else.”
Have you ever had a season like this – “non-stop chaos that grinds your life to a halt completely?” Work piles up all around you, your personal life grinds to a halt, and you find your world shrinking in scope and margin, even essential things remaining undone? Things break, dishes remain dirty, and you crawl into bed each night exhausted ever more deeply? Sleep is fitful, basic communication more difficult than normal, and a restless weariness envelops you?
Yeah, me neither. (Reality: Yes, me too).
Our family is in the middle of a season like this, and while the dawning horizon could come at any moment, there’s a real possibility that the night will also drag on for awhile longer. In the midst of these seasons, I am faced with a few responses that largely determine how I pass these nights:
Response #1: The “Go Back to Sleep” Option
In which I choose my preferred posture when stressed and overwhelmed, the classic psychological response of “freezing.” It’s so much easier to simply go back to bed and pretend all that is in front of you will go away with a nap, isn’t it? (I wish I didn’t love this option as much as I do).
Response #2: The “Tantrum Meltdown Like My 17 Month-Old” Option
In which I revert to my best toddler-self as if traveling back in time to 1982, choosing to freak out about everything unknown, the smallest of changes overwhelming me to the point of eruption (I wish I didn’t allow my toddler self to get the best of me some days).
Response #3: The “Songs in the Night” Option
The posture I wish to increasingly respond from: Patient, enduring, quiet, listening, choosing not to react when misunderstood – essentially, the posture of love and sacrifice Jesus adopted throughout his life, his “selfish” needs set aside for a greater good – that of love, always love, only love, towards his neighbour (I have to move from wishing this was more regularly my response, to ‘acting towards’ this becoming my natural response – this is the natural way transformation and maturity take root within the human soul).
Matt Redman, one of the most theologically grounded lyricists giving the Church’s soul a song to sing in this day, recently released a new album with a track entitled “Songs in the Night.” The lyrics, as always, are poetic, heartfelt, honest, and deeply biblical. Take a moment to reflect on a portion of them:
“I am in the storm, Lord the storm is not in me
You will be my peace
I’ll wait here, I’ll wait here
And I will
Sing songs in the night, praise in the storm
You’re God in it all
And I will stand
I’ll be still and know, whatever may come
You’re God in it all”
These lyrics – this song – this heart posture – this is the response I will choose to have, regardless of what comes “in the night.” “And I will sing songs in the night, praise in the storm. You’re God in it all.”
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“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5b, NLT).