“The Trees of the Forest Will Sing”

As I write this, I am moved to run to praise; running from all that clutters my mind and burdens my heart to press forward to praise. In the current events swirling around in national news, I long to run to the One who can center me, the One who leads and governs with mercy and holy justice. I praise the King who died so that I may be a Kingdom citizen. I invite you to read 1 Chronicles 16:7-36. Maybe read it out loud. I did, wanting this passage to fill the atmosphere around me. After reading it, I looked outside at trees and was reminded that in our praise and trembling before the Lord, we can look and see the heavens rejoicing (vs. 31) and the earth responding. Verse 33 says, “The trees of the forest will sing; they will sing for joy before the Lord.”

As I look at the conjoined beech trees in my yard, I find comfort in seeing that those trees were so close, so wrapped up in each other’s growth that they are permanently tied together, now appearing as one multi-trunked tree. When these conjoined trees sway in the buffeting winds, their trunks and branches rub together and . . . they sing! They reverberate a sound that emanates out because they are joined together. As you read this, it is my prayer you run to the praise, reading out loud the words of David recorded in 1 Chronicles 16, and we join together (picturing it a bit like my conjoined beech trees) and we sing to Him. I believe God intended His chosen people to praise Him so that our sound reverberates across the land despite the wind that could steer us off course or, perhaps, because the wind is pounding us. May we praise the Lord.

Pastor Kim