I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Old Testament is full of songs. The Hebrew people naturally went to song to celebrate or lament. Their enemies had just been destroyed, so of course there was a song for that.
First, Moses and the rest of the people began to sing and, me being me, my first thought was “how did they learn a whole song so fast!?” I mean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Moving on.
The first part of the song declares what God has done, with words like “Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”, and “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.”
{Maybe some other day we can talk about why we don’t sing classic songs like that anymore. j/k}
The last portion of the song speaks of what God will do.
“The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; terror and dread will fall on them.”
“You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.”
It was a victory song, filled with imagery that came from holy imaginations, and emotion that came from people who watched God do something so big, so miraculous, that the only thing they could do with it was sing about it.
Today I’m wondering why I have no song. I sing the songs that others have written (nothing wrong with that), but I have no song of my own. Not because God has not done mighty things in my life, but because I choose not to sing. Instead, I let words that others have written suffice as my song.
Today, in the middle of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, I found a longing to sing my own song to the Lord.
And that’s why I just can’t get enough of the Word of God.
Karla Jo Wasion 