Moses could still sing. He was 120 years of age (34: 7) and there was still a melody in his heart. Earlier in his life he had sung the Lord’s praise on the victorious side of the Red Sea but the past forty years had been tough for this servant of God. He had worked long hard days often without rest. He had painstakingly carried out God’s detailed directives. He had interceded for the people times without number. He had listened to disputes too numerous to calculate and all too often the disputes had been with him. Most would understand if song was no longer heard in the conservatory of his soul. But it was!
Deuteronomy 32 contains the lyrics of Moses’ song. If you read them carefully you will find the melody embedded within them. There is an upbeat tempo. Moses, after all he has been through, is a singer and not a cynic. Close your eyes and you can visualize this distinguished old man with a deep baritone, if somewhat gravelly, voice lifting his vision and his voice heavenward in exalted praise to the God Who has been forever faithful to him. Moses cannot help himself. Praise permeates his person. He is lost in wonder, love and praise. Nothing can translate the rapture of his soul but song and we are invited to the concert hall for this farewell solo. This is the ultimate homecoming concert! The man of God who has served so beautifully is going home but before he does he sings for us the praise of his great God.
God puts a new song in [our] mouth, a hymn of praise to our God (Ps. 40: 3). It is a song which can be sung even when we are afflicted and needy (Ps. 40: 17). God’s people are to be teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in [our] hearts to God (Col. 3: 16) at every juncture of our spiritual pilgrimage. Through “many dangers, toils and snares I have already come” I can sing and staring at the cold eyes of death I can sing, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.” Real praise is just as much at home at the nursing home, the hospice or the funeral home as it is at the church! Praise is more about what comes out of the soul than what comes out of the mouth!
By the way, no one can take your song from you. You have to surrender it. Nothing given by God can be taken by force by some other. If our “new song” gets old or removed altogether it is we who let it go. I don’t ever want to let my song go. If I have voice on my deathbed I want to be singing, “The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows!” How about you, Moses, can you still sing after all these years?