In Job 35:10, Job describes God as “….my Maker, who gives songs in the night.” David says, in Psalm 59 that he will sing of God’s greatness. Verse 16 says, “I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.”
John Newton was a sailor. He lived up to the cliché about sailor’s language. He used vulgar filthy language in all his speech. He regularly took the name of Jesus in vain and cursed all the time – day and night. But then he became a Christian. Later he became a pastor, and then later he became a song writer. His cursing had turned to praising. We know his work best from the immortal words of “Amazing Grace:” “how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” But he had other hymns less well known. One of them he wrote as a praise song to the name that he often used as a swear word. He would sing it in the morning and in the evening. It was a song of praise to the name of Jesus.
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.
Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, my Prophet, Priest, and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring.
Till then I would Thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath;
And may the music of Thy name refresh my soul in death.
The same name—Jesus. The same word—God. But now praise instead of profanity. He traded his filthy language and vile speech for the language of love and hymns of praise.
Chuck
But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? (Psalm 56:3-4)