HEBREW WORD STUDY – A SONG IN THE NIGHT – BALAYELAH  SHURAH  

Ps 42:8 [Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [an prayer unto the God of my life.

The word command is yatsuh which is a decree, an order all must obey.  God orders his chasad, mercy or lovingkindness to be with us in the day.  But it is in the night that God gives us a song. The word song in Hebrew is shiro which is a song with lyrics, possibly even a poem. It does not have to be musical.  We need something more at night than during the day. The nighttime is the worst when going through trouble. During the day you are dealing with it in the mercy and lovingkindness of God, but at night, when there is nothing you can do, you must sleep, God will give you a song, a poem or a verse.  I am not a poet, or songwriter, but God has given me many little lyrics in the middle of the night. Many nights I repeat the same song God has given me. Sometimes you have to get up and write down the words as you pour your heart out to God, but you know, He will give you words of comfort, but you must use your imagination, that imagination that God gave you to produce those words of comfort. You and God write that poem together.

Less that 50 years after Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation, the European nations under the Holy Roman Empire were literally at war.  The Protestants and Catholics fought bitterly, the Catholics to retain the unity of the Holy Roman Empire and the Protestants to be free from the control of the Catholic Church.  In 1555 Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, sign a peace treaty known as The Peace of Augsburg which confirmed the results of the 1526 Diet of Speyer ending the war between the German Lutherans and the Catholics.  The treaty allowed the German princes (who numbered only 222) to choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) of their realms according to their consciences.  This was known as the principle of cuius rego, eius religio.  

Although this temporarily resolved the issue within Germany it did not resolve the underlying religious conflict with the remaining members of the Holy Roman Empire, This included Spain, Netherlands, The Dutch,  and Italy which bordered Germany. With German being a little Island surrounded by these warring providences,  The Peace of Augsburg began to unravel as converted bishops refused to give up their bishoprics and Catholic rulers in Spain and Eastern Europe sought to restore the power of Catholicism in the region. This resulted in the Cologne War of 1583-1588 when Ferdinand I, a Protestant  was elected to be the Holy Roman Emperor.  The Holy Roman Empire fell into three religious factions, the Calvinist, the Lutherans, and the Catholics.  Tensions and conflicts continue to build between these factions for the next 30 years when in 1618 full-scale war broke out between all the European nations resulting in the 30 Year War.  The conflict centered primarily in German and literally wasted that country. 

In 30 years the population of the German states was reduced by 30%, 1 in every 3 citizens men, women, and children, of the country died.  The male population was reduced by 50%,  1 in every 2 males died. The war was fought mainly by mercenary armies who were mostly undisciplined and self-seeking. They ravished the country foraging through farms, denuding the land and bringing extensive destruction throughout the entire region.  Famine and disease rose, countries went bankrupt.   The Swedish armies alone destroyed 2,000 castles and over 20,000 villages and towns.  The war finally ended with the Treaty of Munster, but much of the quarrels that provoked the war still went unresolved and are still present today.

A young German pastor by the name of Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee

 from their home when invading armies march through their village.  They found refuge in a small inn for a couple of days.  Homeless, an uncertain future, famine, disease, brutal ruthless armies surrounding Pastor Gerhardt, his wife and small children who huddled together in fear.  Pastor Gerhardt’s wife broke down and wept.  To comfort her he reminded her of the Scripture promises of God’s provision and keeping.  Yet, Pastor Gerhardt too was weighted down with despair and they became only empty words.  When his little family was finally asleep, Pastor Gerhardt went out alone to the garden and he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour. Then all of a sudden, the burden lifted, the sweet presence of God flooded into him. In pure joy, he wrote these words:  Translated from German:

Give to the winds thy fears;

Hope and be undismayed

God hears they sighs 

And counts thy tears;

God shall lift up they head.

The waves and clouds and storms

He gently clears the way.’

Wait thou His time.

So shall the night soon end

In joyous day.

I don’t care who you are how talented or untalented you may be, God gave you an imagination. He gave you creativity.  Don’t say you can’t write a verse. You can when God gives it to you and He is ready every night to co-author a shur, a little song in the night to bring you comfort.