God Gave the Song

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.  --Zephaniah 3:17

As I was driving home in rush hour this evening, I heard an NPR interview with Anais Mitchell, on the Broadway debut of her 2010 folk opera album Hadestown.  In this re-telling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the Greek myth of love and tragedy, the male lead follows his love to the very gates of hell.  He sings a song that melts everyone's heart, even Hades, the god who oversees the underworld.  As a result, Hades allows Eurydice to go back with her love.

One thing that the artist/songwriter said struck me.  You know I always find things in life to spiritualize, to make a comparison with the Gospel.  Ms. Mitchell said that in her version of this myth, Eurydice chooses to go to the underworld.  In the play based on her album, artists like Orpheus and muses like his mother live on Earth.  They have freedom, but don't really worry about where their next meal is coming from.  On the other hand, the underworld has factories, places where you can work yourself to death, but at least there is security.

Often, when we are trying to share the gospel, people will trot out the argument, "Why would a gracious God send anybody to hell?"  The answer-- the plight of fallen man--is that people choose an eternity without God.   God does not send anyone to hell.  "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).

The Father sent the Son with an irresistible message, and the Spirit softens the heart of man to receive the message.  In the 1970s, Bill and Gloria Gaither recorded a song called, "God Gave the Song"

You ask me why my heart keeps singing
Why I can sing when things go wrong.
But since I've found the source of music
I just can't help it. God gave the song.

Come walk with me through fields and forests.
We'll climb the hills and still hear that song.
For even hills resound with music.
They just can't help it. God gave the song.

What's that I hear, I still hear that music
Day after day. that song goes on.
For once you know the source of music
You'll always hear it. God gave the song.

Come on and join,
It's the song of Jesus
Day after day that song goes on
For once you know the source of music
You'll always hear it. God gave the song.
For since I've found the source of music
I just can't help it. God gave the song.

Re-read that last line: "I just can't help it, God gave the song."  Like Orpheus, the music melts the hearts of those of us who accept the message by God's grace.  How then, you might ask, can anyone resist?  Remember, the Bible says, "You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." (John 15:16).

God chooses whom He wills, but in His omniscience He also knows who will reject the message, and who will choose an eternity without Him.  He knows who will respond to the Gospel message.  "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those who he justified he also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30).

We just came through the Easter holiday, and one of the things my pastor said is that after the crucifixion, Jesus went to hell to preach to those in captivity.  (I personally think this is a mis-reading of scripture, but many hold to it as truth; therefore I do not think it is necessarily heresy, nor a test of faith, but some mis-guided theology passed down by the traditions of men.)  Like Orpheus, Jesus was willing to leave heaven and come share His song of love where we are, where you and I could hear His voice.

One other part of the NPR interview that intrigued me was the question about why people keep going to see a Greek tragedy when they know how it is going to turn out.  Any student of history or of the arts knows that the story of Orpheus and Eurydice does not turn out well.  Even though the audience knows the ending for the most part, they still turn out to see the play.  Why?  The author addressed that within the play, as she has Hermes, the narrator, ask the question.  The implied answer is hope--each time we see the tragedy unfold, we are hopeful that either the ending will turn out differently, or that by seeing it, we (the viewer) would learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.  Over. And. Over. Again.

In the same way, Jesus is persistent in His calling us, wooing us to Himself and away from sin and its consequences. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus told three stories about Himself.  In the first, He is the shepherd that leaves the 99 to go look for the one lost sheep.  In the second, He likens Himself to a woman with 10 gold coins, who cannot account for one, so she sweeps out the house and searches until it is found.  The final story, perhaps the most famous of all, involves the father of a prodigal son; that son, after he has come to the end of himself, goes back home to find the father anxiously watching the horizon for him, then running to meet him, and adorning him with fine clothes, shoes, and jewelry.

My friend, the Father keeps on searching for you.  Please do not harden your heart, but listen to His voice.  When you truly hear Him and respond, He will save you and bring you to His home.  Otherwise, you too will end up in the place of the dead, without hope, without life, without music.