Blessings around us should cause the wellsprings of our hearts to burst forth in praise to God.
Instead of the dry and desolate conditions in what Moses called “all that great and terrible wilderness” (Deut 1:19), the children of Israel are beginning to see the first hints of what the Lord called “a land flowing” (Ex 3:8). They have crossed the Zered and the Arnon Rivers, and have had access to “the slope of the brooks that reaches to the dwelling of Ar” (Num 21:15). But when they come to the location of Beer, where they find a significant well that God had promised them, they burst into song. What a refreshing change to the usual grumbling and complaining they have been known for these last 40 years. “Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it—The well the leaders sank, Dug by the nation’s nobles, By the lawgiver, with their staves” (vv 17-18). Adam Clarke comments, “…such ancient poetic histories commemorated great and extraordinary displays of providence, courage, strength, fidelity, heroism, and piety; hence the origin of epic poems.” One of the oldest songs on record, we have no other accounts of Israel singing since they rejoiced on the shores of the sea when Pharaoh’s armies had been eliminated under the waves (Ex 15). Which brings us to a vital lesson. The apostle Paul tells us that the first evidence of a Spirit-filled life is “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). Do you sing the Lord’s praises? I don’t mean just when surrounded by others in a church gathering. David, author of so many beautiful psalms, declared, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works!” (1 Chron 16:8-9). Let’s do that today!