Doing Battle with Song: A Book Review on Songs of Suffering

Dec 7

Dec 7 Doing Battle with Song: A Book Review on Songs of Suffering

“Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.”—Psalm 96:2

In my last post, I talked about how the good times in our lives can be a way to prepare and shore up for the future hard times. I mentioned that we can make the most of our time by building up a storehouse of truth.

While memorizing Scripture can be one way, have you thought also of singing doctrine?

In her latest book, Songs of Suffering, Joni Eareckson Tada—founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, a paraplegic since the age seventeen—recommends training the soundtrack of our minds and tuning our hearts to hymns as a way to get through difficult seasons in life. When we learn, in good times and bad, to sing the songs of faith, we are forging pathways in our minds to worship the Lord at all times.

If you’re groaning with the thought of more memorization, consider how many useless jingles we have already learned even when we are not trying. As Joni points out, “Why give the precious real estate of my brain cells to things that weigh my spirit down rather than elevate it?” (p. 21)

This beautiful hardcover coffee table book is personally illustrated with photos that Joni commissioned specifically for it. Through 25 thoughtfully selected hymns and accompanying devotional thoughts, Joni shares about her own struggles with life in a wheelchair, along with other testimonies from her “Pain Pals,” a network of fellow sufferers that support each other in their various disabilities. Whether you need songs of comfort, songs of strength, or songs of hope, there is a tune for every moment.

Though the point is not to compare our sufferings, I was humbled as I read the book. If these faithful saints could praise God in such dire conditions, I surely can learn to do so in mine.

Why We Ought to Sing

Why is singing so important? Aside from the fact that we are commanded to sing (Psalm 96:2 above is an imperative), it is because, as Joni declares, “We are what we sing.”

When we sing, especially in suffering, we

Reflect our divine image-bearing nature in our hearts (Eph. 5:19)
Meditate on Christian doctrine (see Moses’s example in Deut. 32)
Prepare our hearts with the courage to do battle as Jehoshaphat did (2 Chr. 20:20-23)
Follow Jesus’ example right before he was led to death (Matt. 26:30) and what Paul did in prison (Acts 16:25)
Do what we will be doing in the future (Rev. 4, 5, 7 record seven hymns)

Suffering distracts our focus and drains our courage. But singing helps us to reorient, refill, and recharge to move forward courageously once again.

How to Build a Storehouse of Song

When we conscientiously learn to sing, we hardwire our brains to default to valiant hymns. This uproots the old and retrains your memory with new truths.

As you can imagine, this is not an easy task, but Joni provides tips in the book on how to do this.

Listen to them over and over.

For visual learners, print out words of a new hymn and spend time during your quiet time each morning practicing them. You can put these together to create your own personal hymnbook with printed copies or in a digital format (I use GoodNotes to create a notebook).
For auditory learners, create a playlist (Here’s the Spotify playlist of the book’s hymns I use while I am doing chores, walking, driving, etc.).

Select songs that provide solid direction and content.

Choose songs that are directed to the Lord and not focused on ourselves, looking outwards, not inwards.
Second, find songs that tell of Christ’s salvation, that “grinds biblical truth into our souls, like a pestle grinding powder in a crucible,” as Joni says (p. 19). Check the lyrics to ensure they are biblically solid, with “spiritual muscle” that will fortify you.

Make intentional time to sing!

Sing regularly, day by day (Ps. 96:2). This means good days and bad—something Joni does even in her disability.
Sing with purpose—choose songs that will help you to wake up from spiritual lethargy, pray, search your soul, guide, testify, give courage, hope. What do you need help with today? Have songs in your repertoire to encompass a wide variety of needs and desires.
Sing with others—send them a song you are reflecting on for the day and ask them to sing it with you. Or you can literally gather your family together and sing truth.
Sing instead of worrying—Ponder truths of God through song instead of mulling over things when you cannot sleep (Ps. 4:4a).

Turn the songs you sing into prayer.

Because the lyrics of hymns are poetry, they are perfect examples of making each word count. The powerful images, the rich vocabulary of these songs can be commissioned as starting points for your own particular praises, petitions, and intercessions.

Personal Reflections

While there are many familiar hymns in this collection, like “It Is Well With My Soul,” and “Abide With Me,” I loved learning new hymns. Joni introduced me to some new ones that I have come to love.

One of these is the last song featured in the book, “When We All Get to Heaven.” Whether sung boisterously or reflectively, the words are truly a song of hope for me.

So often I get wrapped up in this world.

Taking care of our disabled daughter means that I do many mundane things over and over that wears on my spirit. I feel like I am in a never-ending cycle of maintaining her routine and ensuring she gets the care she needs. This, on top of a full counseling load, blossoming ministry, and homeschooling my youngest child, can keep me short-sighted.

What this hymn has done for me is to enlarge my view by looking up and out. When I see the glory of heaven promised to me, it puts other things into perspective.

It helps me to keep doing the same things again and again. It helps me to persevere when I get tired. It focuses me on the promise of future reunion with my Savior when all will be made clear.

I need this song of hope! It brings both comfort for the moment, strength for the day ahead, and hope for the long run.

If the whole idea of singing as a way to internalize truth is a new concept for you, give it a trial run as we enter into this Advent season.

Start by really thinking about the words to some of our favorite hymns. Some that are rich in doctrine include:

As we let these songs soak into our hearts, their truths can slowly but surely grind into our souls. As we rehearse the Gospel through hymns, we prepare our hearts and protect them in times of trouble.

Let’s sing!