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[February 3]
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Psalm 119:54
IT IS written, "He giveth songs in the night," and "He hath put a new song into my mouth." It causes us no surprise to know that the saints will "be joyful in glory," and sing aloud with the high praises of God in their mouths when it shall be given to them to execute the judgments written, but it may strike some as peculiar that the present conditions of imperfection and frailty, in which we groan and are burdened, should be a condition in which songs and thanksgiving and joy should prevail with us. Nevertheless, this is the divine will, as it is the divine statement respecting all who are truly overcomers: they are all to be joyful in the house of their pilgrimage. Respecting this joy our Lord declares, "Your joy no man taketh from you."...So then, while there is a measure of groaning because of some burdens on the part of those who have attained to the new life, there are also blessed joys which the world cannot give, neither take away; and these are the source and cause of the unceasing joy and "songs in the night" before the glorious dawn of the new millennial day. These songs are inspired by the joys granted us in the house of our pilgrimage—while we are actually absent from our "home." Z'97-305 R2231:6 (Hymn 179)