Providential Songs

  Providence does not always involve something physical, like food or clothing.  The greatest incidents of providence in our lives may be when a word of comfort comes to us that we really need at that moment.  It may come through a Scripture passage, the words of a friend or the words of a song.

I Lift My Hands

   When my sister’s husband was in the hospital due to a serious accident, a certain Christian song by Chris Tomlin seemed to be playing whenever she was driving to visit him.  It seemed as though the words were aimed exactly at her need.  The first part of “I Lift My Hands” goes like this:

Be still, there is a healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy, it is unfailing
His arms are a fortress for the weak

Let faith arise
Let faith arise

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge, You are my strength
As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

Cry out to Jesus

   Another true story of an occasion when a song spoke just the words a person needed to hear is explained in Third Day's song "I Need a Miracle." A man in desperation planned to take his own life, but a song on the radio made all the difference.  The elderly parents of the man who experienced this incident came to a Third Day concert and told the band members that it was, in fact, their song "Cry out to Jesus" that God used to bring comfort and new hope to their son.

He lost his job and all he had in the fall of '09
Now he feared the worst, that he would lose his children and his wife
So he drove down deep into the woods and thought he'd end it all
And prayed, "Lord above, I need a miracle"

...

He turned on the radio to hear a song for the last time
He didn't know what he was looking for, or even what he'd find
The song he heard gave him hope and strength to carry on
And on that night they found a miracle
They found a miracle

How Firm a Foundation

   Finally, a song that touched me when I was at an evening church service during college was "How Firm a Foundation."  I found that I could not really get out the words because at that moment the words were as the voice of God speaking directly to my heart.  It dealt personally with a struggle I was having about whether God was really enough and how much he really cared.

How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He has said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

"When through the deep waters I call you to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,

For I will be with you in trouble to bless

And sanctify to you your deepest distress."

Is there a song that has particularly touched you when you most needed it?  Please leave a comment.