"Thy Hope, Thy Confidence Let Nothing Shake"

This line comes from the second verse of "Be Still, My Soul", written by Katharina von Schlegel, music composed by Jean Sibelius.

 Before I dive in to this, let me give a little disclaimer/explanation. My inspiration for writing these posts about hymns comes from Charles Spurgeon, and his devotional book, Morning and Evening. For each day of the year, he has two entries (on for morning, one for evening) based upon a single Bible verse. He simply expounds upon it, turning the believer's heart to raptures towards its Creator and Savior with a paragraph or two. I wanted to do something similar, only with lines from hymns.

As much as I would like to, I cannot write like Spurgeon. I tried to last week, and it just didn't work out. There were a couple things that I said or didn't say because they weren't Spurgeon-esque. So I would like to announce that I am intending to go back to my choppy blunt writing and forgo attempting the elegance that Spurgeon possessed, and pray that Holy Spirit would continue to use me regardless. 

Now, back to the hymn. As I get older and gather little tidbits of wisdom here and there, I have realized that life is more about balance and stability rather than hopping aboard every emotional roller coaster that looks inviting. Your life from age zero to twenty-two(ish) is full of changes and growth and discovery. After that it seems to be just the long stretch of "adulthood", where not much happens except work, work, possibly family, and work. And to be honest, that is rather true. There's not so much drama and the world isn't ending daily and you're not having an identity crisis every week or so (hopefully). You learn to go with the flow. Life is life - time is going to keep moving whether you want it to or not, so you learn to live with it. You learn to accept what you've been given and cherish the time you have. At least that's what I'm learning. 

As Christians, we should be the most chill people of all. We should know how to roll with the punches of life. Psalm 112:6-7 says, "For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD." We will never be moved if we are trusting in the LORD; our confidence will never be shaken if He is whom we place our trust in. 

I said that I wasn't going to try and write like Spurgeon, but I can quote him: "Not one ship in the convoy shall suffer wreck; the great Commodore will steer every barque in safety to the desired haven. By faith we will slip our cable for another day's cruise, and sail forth with Jesus into a sea of tribulation. Winds and waves will not spare us, but they all obey Him; and, therefore, whatever squalls may occur without, faith shall feel a a blessed calm within." Believers are not without trials, but we feel a blessed calm throughout it all if we are in Christ. We feel Psalm 23 as we are experiencing Psalm 2 (Please go look up Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms 2nd movement if you have not heard it). Christ is our solid rock when all around us is sinking sand.

I have just one other illustration, and I particularly like it because it is musical, but hopefully I can explain it accurately enough to get my point across. In music there is something referred to as a Cantus Firmus, and it can be defined as: "a preexisting melody used as the basis of a polyphonic (many voices) composition". It is basically the thing that is the basis for and of the whole piece; what all the other parts are created from. There is also this dude called Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a pretty awesome guy during WWII. He was also quite a talented musician, of which I did not know about until a couple months ago. Anyway, he wrote this concerning the Cantus Firmus: "I wanted to tell you to have a good, clear, cantus firmus; that is the only way to a full and perfect sound, when the counterpoint has a firm support and can't come adrift or get out of tune, while remaining a distinct whole in its own right. Only a polyphony of this kind can give life a wholeness and at the same time assure us that nothing calamitous can happen as long as the cantus firmus is kept going." 

This is such an accurate picture of what our relationship with God should look like. He is the cantus firmus that the rest of our life is built upon. Since He is ever faithful and unchanging, we can be assured that nothing really truly calamitous can happen as long as we are trusting in Him. We ride through the calms and the storm because He is in control of both. Great is His faithfulness! Be still, my soul - let nothing shake your hope or confidence!