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Scripture songs: a positive note
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto
my path.” Psalm 119:105
By CHERYL ROGERS
I never was very good at memorizing chunks of text, so remembering
Scripture didn’t come easily for me -- at least not
until God began giving me Scripture songs!
It happened in the aftermath of the tragic World Trade Center
attacks in 2001. On December 18, the anniversary of my earthly
father’s death, God gave me my first melody. My dad
had always encouraged my sister and I to write songs, so
it piqued my interest, to say the least.
Well, after I sang one of the songs in my church’s
talent show, God gave me so many melodies I put together
a CD. The songs kept coming, so I put together some more
CDs. Do you know what I discovered? Well, it’s what
other folks have learned, too. Committing things to music
makes them easy to remember.
While it had been hard for me to remember Scriptures before,
now I got many chunks of Scripture memorized, without really
trying. Just developing the songs, I went through a phase
of repetition. I would sing the song over and over again
working up the melody and practicing the singing. I would
work on an arrangement, then I’d practice the song
some more. By the time the song was recorded, I had memorized
most, if not all, of the song.
I consider the songs prayers and began praying God’s
promises in them over my life. Sometimes the truth of God’s
word would manifest itself as I sang the song, or played
the CD.
One day I was walking along the beach and there was this
piece of glass in my path -- just as I sang “no weapon
formed against you shall prosper,” a song lyric from
Isaiah 54:17. Another day, I was driving down the interstate
and there was garbage in the road. I saw it kind of late,
but successfully swerved out of the way in our Miata as
my Victory! CD was playing on the stereo “no weapon
formed against you shall prosper!”
Another time I was driving near our home when a sheriff’s
deputy pulled in front of me. He was going slow; I had to
use my breaks to slow down because I was traveling a bit
over the speed limit. Meanwhile on the CD player the words
of my song God Will Hear Me were playing: “I will bear
the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned,” from
Micah 7.I followed the deputy at what seemed like a snail’s
pace, grateful
this time I did not get a ticket. A few days later, I was
in nearly the same spot, with the same song playing in my
CD player, and there was a gorgeous rainbow!
Another interesting time was when I sang I Will Give Thanks
to You from Psalm 30 in my church’s talent show. Gosh,
they gave us all thank you certificates for participating
in the talent show, when I should have thanked them for
giving me a chance to sing my song.At the show, I proclaimed
healing from a goiter. (God is healing me from a failed
business I started in 1990. I closed the business when I
became too sick to run it. I have learned to consider the
healing a done deal -- and go on with my life.)God has used
the songs to communicate with me, to heal me, and to teach
me Scriptures I probably couldn’t, or wouldn’t
have ever memorized.
As I was well into the recording of my second and third
CDs, which I did in tandem, I realized the songs had given
me a much better grip on the Scriptures than I had ever
had before. I would try to explain a biblical lesson and
realize I had done a song on it! Others have had similar
experiences with Bible songs. “One of the coolest things
Scripture songs have done for me is that I have actually
heard the Holy Spirit bring these songs to my head/heart
when going through various trials and temptations in life,”
says Timothy Harris, a partner with Ted Warren in WordSong
Entertainment.WordSong produces Scripture songs in a cinematic
style.“I believe in the power of God’s word. If
we can slip our music or rock opera into the mainstream
entertainment machinery, many lives will be transformed
by the hearing of God’sword,” says Lionel Deleon,
president and founder of Messenger Project, a non-profit
corporation promoting the Bible through music.
Cheryl Rogers is a writer and singer/songwriter specializing
in Scripture songs and Scripture-based columns, stories,
and artwork. Free resources are posted at SongsfromtheWord.com
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