Let the Son Shine In

"My Mommy told me something, a little girl should know
and it's all about the devil, and I've learned to hate him so.
She says he causes trouble if you let him in the room.
He will never ever leave you if your heart is filled with gloom.

So let the Son shine in, face it with a grin.
Smilers never lose and frowners never win
So let the Son shine in, face it with a grin.
Open up your heart and let the Son shine in.

When you get discouraged, the devil jumps with glee,
but he feels so awful awful, when he sees you on your knees.
So if you get discouraged, and you never seem to win,
just open up your heart and let the Son shine in!"

I have sung this song for as long as I can remember. Yes, my mother taught it to me, which is why I get choked up when I start to sing it. My favorite most vivid memory of singing it is singing it while my cousins and I were getting ready for bathtime at my grandmother's house, and my grandmother was singing right along with us. I was probably four or five years old at the time.

I am now 31 years old. For 26 or so years, I've been singing this song. I've probably been singing it a lot longer than that, because I know I learned it around the age of three. But here I am, years later finally discovering the significance of this simple little children's song, and how it applies to my life. I am discovering many truths found in children's songs as of late. Oh, if we "grown-ups" would only listen!

Psalms 37:1-8
Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

From "My Utmost For His Highest": "Fretting means getting out at elbows mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say "Fret not," but a very different thing to have such a disposition that you find yourself able not to fret. It sounds so easy to talk about "resting in the Lord" and "waiting patiently for Him" until the nest is upset - until we live, as so many are doing, in tumult and anguish, is it possible then to rest in the Lord? If this "don't" does not work there, it will work nowhere. This "don't" must work in days of perplexity as well as in days of peace, or it never will work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work in anyone else's case. Resting in the Lord does not depend on external circumstances at all, but on your relationship to God Himself. Fussing always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious, because He was not "out" to realize His own ideas; He was "out" to realize God's ideas. Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God. Have you been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God? Put all "supposing" on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing. All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God."

Do you fret? Now when I think of the word "fret," I think of the worry wart, wringing their hands, having anxiety attacks, trembling with fear. I don't fret like that. I get stressed out. My attitude changes. I get kind of numb. If anyone asks me a question, sarcasm becomes the greatest service I offer. I get overwhelmed. If anyone asks me if I can do something for them, like my husband for instance, they better take cover, because I might just turn into my alter-ego, Katie Kaboom.

Believe you, me, I hate when I get like this. I feel like, well there's no other way to say it - I feel blah. I feel like everyone around me has had their brains sucked out and I'm the only one with any answers. Thanks to God's faithfulness, it doesn't take too long for me to remember that I am a child of God, and this is not who I am. This is not who He called me to be. I start to feel shame and embarrassment for my actions, I repent and remember His faithfulness to me deserves my faithfulness to Him.

So I let the Son shine in. I focus my eyes, again, on God. I think to Satan, "HaHa, you didn't get a foothold this time, and you never will. Mercy said "No!"

I hope and pray for the day that fretting is not a part of my walk. I pray for the maturity in Christ when I can completely rest in God and never once take my eyes off of Him. I pray for the day when I don't have to remember to "let the Son shine in," but rather bask in the life-giving, supreme-loving SON, that is my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I pray that wherever you are today, you will let the Son shine in, and bask in His love.

Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.