“And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.” 2 Chr 29:27

I recall as a child coming into my grandparents’ home and hearing my grandmother singing or humming different hymns from the ole’ church hymnal. Depending on the tune, I could tell a lot about her attitude or her mood at the time. She seemed to always have a mindfulness for the Lord. Our scripture passage reminds us that songs are a part of our presenting and praise to the Lord. The passage follows a time when the children of Israel had been captives in a strange land. For years in their captivity, there was not a song and sacrifice in the temple. The Levite priests were dispersed, and the temple was unkempt, the lamps unlit and the altar was unused. There was not a song in the temple. The temple was silent, dark, and overgrown with thorns and weeds. To the strangers’ eye who pass by, the temple appeared intact, but “the song of Lord” had long gone and the people were slaves in a foreign land. Yet that all changed when they returned to the homeland, to the presence of the Lord and the temple was restored. In the presence of the Lord “the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also.” The time had come for refreshing, renewal, and the children of Israel were restored in the presence of the Lord. Friend, are there times when it seems you are a captive in a foreign land? Your heart is overgrown with the cares of the world? The incense of prayer no longer burns as before. By all appearances, the ordinances of a religious life are well preserved, but inwardly “the song of the Lord” has died out of your heart and the lamp of your life is covered in darkness. My friend, there is a song that awaits you. God yearns to receive, restore, and forgive. Be refresh and renewed in the Lord. “Repent…and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Hear the Father say, “return to Me, and I will return to you” (Mal 3;7). Father, thank You that You will never leave us nor forsake us and that You are with us to the end. By Your presence, hear my cry and restore Your song to my heart. In the blessed Name of Jesus. Amen.