Songs We Sing: Days Of Elijah Series

SONGS WE SING: DAYS OF ELIJAH

Leviticus 25:8-22, Isaiah 61:1-11, Luke 4:16-21

#yearofjubilee

SING ‘DAYS OF ELIJAH’

SERIES INTRODUCTION

This morning we are starting a new sermon series that will go from now until right before Easter. The series is called: “The Songs We Sing.” Part of worshipping God is singing. It has always been that way. The Bible isn’t a songbook, but there are at least 185 songs in the Bible. There are songs about battles, coronations, funerals, cities being sacked, and seas splitting up. There are songs that praise God for His attributes. 150 of those songs are in the book of Psalms, but there are also two other books full of songs in the Old Testament: The Song of Solomon and Lamentations.

The first song in the Bible happens after the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 15:

READ EXODUS 15:1-3 (ESV)

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him. 3 The Lord is a Man of War; the Lord is His Name.”

Right after Moses sings his song, his sister Miriam joins in:

READ EXODUS 15:20-21 (ESV)

“Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.”

Part of worshipping God is singing. As worship, it matters what words are sung to God. The best worship songs focus on praise for God’s character. The best worship songs help us lament what is going on inside us and connects our feelings to God. The best worship songs focus on praise for God’s character.

SONG WE SING: DAYS OF ELIJAH

The worship song “Days of Elijah” was written by Irish singer and song writer Robin Mark in 1994. How and why was it written? Robin Mark wrote about his inspiration for the song and I have cut and edited his thoughts:

CONTENT… robinmark.com/the-story-behind-days-of-elijah/ [adapted]

The song writer says: “Firstly the song came from watching a television "Review of the Year" at the end of 1994. This was the year of the Rwandan civil war tragedy which claimed 1 million people’s lives, and also when the first ceasefires in N.I. were declared. On this TV review were a lot of daft stories, happy stories, serious stories, and then absolutely devastating stories like the Rwandan situation. As I watched the review unfold I found myself despairing about the state of the world and, in prayer, began asking God if He was really in control and what sort of days were we living in.”

… I felt in my spirit that He replied to my prayer by saying that indeed He was very much in control and that the days we were living in were special times when He would require Christians to be filled with integrity and to stand up for Him just like Elijah did, particularly with the prophets of Baal… …We also needed to be a holy and just people and hence the reference to the "days of your servant Moses", meaning that righteousness and right living was important in all our attitudes and works. …"Days of great trial, of famine, darkness and sword" is a reflection of the apparent times in which we live when still thousands of people die every day from starvation, malnutrition and war. In the midst of it all we are called to make a declaration of what and who we believe in.

… These are the themes of the verses - Declaration, Righteousness, Unity and Worship. I chose to express these thoughts by reference to the characters that represented these virtues in the Old Testament. It is in essence a song of hope for the Church and the world in times of great trial. … These thoughts were in my head when I came to church early one Sunday in 1995. We have two services and the Pastor spoke during the first service on the "valley of dry bones" from Ezekiel. I took a prompt from this and, in the 30 minutes between the services, wrote down the words and chords in the kitchen of our church building and we sang it, as a body, at the end of the second service.

LYRICS FOR THE DAYS OF ELIJAH (OPTIONAL)

Verse 1: These are the days of Elijah, Declaring the Word of the Lord, And these are the days