The Song of the Righteous

In Doctrine and Covenants 25:12 It says, "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." At the beginning and end of many of our meetings and sometimes even in the middle we sing hymns. Often times we sing the words and think little of how those words connect and what their message truly is. Lately I have been blessed to hear the hymns with spiritual ears. There are almost too many hymns to even begin naming all the songs that have brought peace unto my soul. Therefore, I will focus my remarks on the two hymns I heard today that touched me.

We always seem to focus a little bit more on those songs that are centered around Christ, but today I heard one of those songs as if for the first time. "The Lord is My Shepherd' is a classic hymn. Today I listened to the words of the third verse very intently. "In the midst of affliction my table is spread. With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o'er. With perfume and oil thou annointest my head. Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more? Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?"

Even when the Lord is challenging us we must look around and see that, "our table is spread," and what shall I ask that the Lord has not already provided. These ideas remind me of when I read in Nephi last year. One thing that seemed to be so poignant was how he was always praising God even when life was difficult.

Even when he "did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness" he still said, "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings. And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness."

Even when trials do come upon us we must look for the ways the Lord is blessing us and commit to keep the commandments of God. It is imperative we praise God for that which he does for us moment to moment. It was such a beautiful reminder today that my table is spread. I know that the Lord is blessing me. These are financially difficult times for many including Kent and I, but I know that the Lord loves us and there is nothing more I can ask of him for my table truly is spread.

The closing song is one I always love to sing. It was quite appropriate for today as the bishop of our ward and his wife are moving to Texas and this is their final week here. We sang "God Be with You Till We Meet Again." I choked back tears and I attempted to sing this song. The whole song has an amazing message, but I will just leave you with a few lines from this beautiful hymn. "God be with you till we meet again; When his perils thick confound you, Put his arms unfailing round you. God be with you till we meet again... Till we meet at Jesus feet...Keep love's banner floating o'er you; Smite deaths threat'ning wave before you. God be with you till we meet again."