Everyone Has a Song

The Song of Birthing

Isaiah 54:1-3 opens with a paradoxical command—“Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing…For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations.”

The irony here is that no one would direct a despairing reject to sing. In ancient Israel, a woman without children was disenfranchised, suspect of spiritual unworthiness and potentially subject to divorce.

Yet the prophet commands the woman to sing and, incredibly, directs her to start preparing a nursery for there are babies (plural) coming! (See vv. 2-5.) A tapestry of joy is prophesied, complete with promises of widespread fruit and joyous consequences flowing from the midst of the singer’s song.

In the Word of God, song and birth are linked together time and again (see Job 38:7; 1 Sam. 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-55). The distinctive thing about Isaiah’s words is that the song he calls for is not a joyous response to an impending birth. The song declares the promise and sets the atmosphere for its fulfillment!

When the Barren Sang

More than a decade ago, it seemed like just another Sunday as Mike and Cheri were seated with the congregation. They probably weren’t thinking about the matter that morning, but Mike and Cheri were unable to have children.

They were new to our congregation, so I did not know this. Nor was I aware of their prayerful desire that after 11 years of marriage they might conceive a child.

That day my subject was “The Conceiving and Bearing of Life.” Using Isaiah 54 as my text, I discussed God’s call to worship and praise Him at any point of our lives that seems hopelessly unfruitful. During my delivery of the message, something very special took place.

I paused, sensing the Holy Spirit’s presence and prompting. “Church,” I said, “my message has not specifically had to do with natural childbearing but with life flowing into barren parts of our lives in other respects.

“Still, the Holy Spirit is impressing on me that there is a couple here this morning who has longed for a child, who has been told they cannot have one and whom the Lord wants to know He is present to speak to their need in a personal way.

“His word to you is this: ‘Begin to fill your house with song, and as you do, the life-giving power of that song will establish a new atmosphere and make way for the conception that you have desired.’”

I didn’t ask anyone to respond to that word. Rather, I simply went on with the message as planned, forgetting about the incident until nearly a year later.

I engaged Mike and Cheri in conversation prior to the Sunday they were to present their baby girl for dedication. After opening exchanges, Mike came to the point. “Pastor Jack, we wanted to talk with you for a few minutes because of this Sunday’s dedication of our baby. There’s something about it we felt you would want to know.”

With that, he recounted the episode of that Sunday about 11 months before—of their childlessness, their prayer, the Holy Spirit’s word to them and their baby.

“Pastor,” Mike continued, “we went home that day and began to do what the Holy Spirit instructed us. We began to fill our house with song.

“Cheri and I would walk hand-in-hand into each room and simply sing praises and worship to the Lord. We just wanted you to know that the baby we’re bringing for presentation to the Lord this Sunday is the fruit of that song, that the Lord did fulfill His word given that morning.”

That baby’s birth was a holy phenomenon not conjured up by man’s efforts or enthusiasm. But it was the precious fruit of one couple’s natural union that, until the divinely-appointed song of the Lord entered their situation, had not produced the fruitfulness for which the couple longed.

I was especially touched when little Aimee left, her song echoing in my ears. I was praising God for the life-begetting power of song and reveling in how it can transmit from one generation to another where simple childlike hearts will welcome it.

You see, Aimee is Mike and Cheri’s daughter, the baby who was born as a result of their filling the house with song, even after years of barrenness without hope. She was the fruit of a song that now was finding a place in her young life.

Who knows what richness her song will bring in the years that follow? Who knows what a new song may bring to you?

Jack Hayford is founding pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California, and founder and president of The King’s Seminary. His ministry reaches around the world through television, radio and numerous books, and through the music he has written, including the beloved hymn, “Majesty.” Adapted from Worship His Majesty by Jack Hayford, copyright © 2000. Published by Regal Books. Used by permission.