Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of angels seem so sweet as that first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God. See how John Bunyan describes it—when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps and went on his way singing—

“Blest Cross! Blest Sepulchre! Blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!”

Believer, do you remember the day your chains fell off? Do you recall the place where Jesus met you and said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have blotted out like a cloud your transgressions, and like a thick cloud your sins; they shall never be mentioned against you again.” Oh! What a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin!

When the Lord first pardoned my sin, so full was my soul of joy that I could hardly keep from dancing. On my road home from the house where I had been set at liberty, I felt I must tell even the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy that I longed to tell every snowflake falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out the sins of one who was chief of rebels.

But it is not only at the beginning of the Christian life that believers have cause to sing. As long as they live, they discover reasons to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” See to it, brother, that you magnify the Lord this day.

“Long as we tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.”