It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:  To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.  For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.  O Lord, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep.   A brutish man knows not; neither doth a fool understand this.  When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever:  But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.  For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.  But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.  Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.  (KJV)

As I was studying the last week of Christ’s ministry on this earth this week the phase from Matthew 27:46 stood out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me”.  Why did God forsake him?  I believe because of the sin of the human race was upon Christ at this time.  Paul wrote of this in Philippians 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!”   And yet as Christ took on the form of human likeness we can now take on the form of a son of God in this world.  This should be the purpose of all believers today.  In I John 3:2-3 “now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

In the years that has passed since my son’s death I reflected back to the voids that his death has left in my life.  Yet as all the voids in one’s life (especially those that comes about because of the death of a love one) usually start to be filled over time by the demands placed upon us by life itself, there does comes moments when these voids open up again.  When these times come I try to reflect upon songs from the past.   As I reflected back on my experiences at church as a young person, I realize how much music was a big part of these experiences.  The songs that I memorized and placed in my heart as a young men has help me get through some of the most difficult times in my life.  The opening statement of this psalm “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name” reveals the type of relationship a person needs to have with the Lord.  Verse four “For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands” enlightens us on the themes the songs.  The song It is Well With My Soul is one such song.  However, it is the history behind the story that help gives the peace to the one that sings it.