God’s Songbird

Have you noticed in your church, your Bible study, your circle of Christian friends, that women who love God tend to sing? Miriam, Moses’ sister, sang when God gloriously delivered His people (Exodus 15:21).

Fanny Crosby was an American hymn writer who lived from 1820 until 1915. That’s 95 years — and Fanny Crosby spent all but six weeks of those 95 years in complete blindness. When she was six weeks old, a doctor unwittingly caused Fanny’s blindness. Yet Fanny, through the eyes of her Christian faith, saw that doctor’s apparent mistake as “no mistake of God’s.” She wrote, “I verily believe it was [God’s] intention that I should live my days in physical darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others to do so.” Note the path Fanny Crosby’s life of singing in the darkness took:

• At age 8, Fanny Crosby began writing poetry.
• When she was 11, one of her poems was published.
• When Fanny was 24, she published her first book of poems.
• Throughout her life, Fanny wrote a large number of religious poems, cantatas, and many songs.
• At the time of her death, the total number of her hymns and poems of praise to her God exceeded 8000!

Truly, Fanny Crosby was a woman who loved God and trusted in His wisdom and His ways (Romans 11:33). Rather than succumb to bitterness or resentment, self-pity or regret, Fanny sang. She became God’s songbird. Like the nightingale, she sang in the darkness… for 95 years.

Today, if you are facing what seems to be a tragedy, look up, even through your tears, and lift a song of praise to God in that darkness. Worship Him while you wander in the fog of uncertainty. And bless God despite the blindness of your incomprehension. Your song of faith gives clear tribute to the goodness and greatness of God.

Read God’s Songbird on Elizabeth & Jim George.