Easy for Who to Say?

I love worship music, it is one of the most powerful ways I find myself connecting with God and expressing myself to Him. God has given His people beautiful and inspirational songs throughout history but I feel like we live in a time where we are blessed to have so many talented musicians and songwriters who know and love Jesus, and who use their God-given talents to bless the church (and glorify Him). In our multimedia culture, we also have such easy access to this music; we probably don't realise how lucky we are, and we may often take it for granted that there will be fresh, new worship music just around the corner, giving us another new perspective. I think it's safe to say worship songs and lyrics will come up more than once or twice as this blog goes on but today I have been really thinking about a couple of lines in one specific song.

It's amazing how easily we find ourselves singing along to some of the words of the songs we sing, without really assessing or considering exactly what we are saying. I know that can certainly be the case for me. It's so important when we are singing songs of worship that we really know and believe every word; we are singing them to God after all. Today we were listening to a beautiful song called, "Hosanna." The words are simple, straightforward and - if you mean them - incredibly powerful, with the potential to change your life drastically.

The first verse and chorus are beautiful but the second verse and what I guess you'd call the bridge are the focus of my thoughts on seriously considering what I'm singing. I remember when we were at Momentum last summer, we sang this song and I was brought to my knees when I took in the full weight of what I was singing and truly meaning:

"I see a generation, rising up to take their place - with selfless faith, selfless faith.

I see a near-revival, stirring as we pray and seek - we're on our knees, we're on our knees....

Heal my heart and make it clean,

Open up my eyes to the things unseen.

Show me how to love like You have loved me.

Break my heart for what breaks yours,

Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause,

As I walk from life into eternity."

The verse just inspires me and makes me truly want to be part of that generation, full of faith and willing to take my place, wherever that may be. I find myself increasingly prayerful at the moment, on my knees for the place in which I live and the people amongst whom I find myself. However, it's the next few lines which really challenge me, and when I sing them, I have to know what I am asking God to do. When we ask Him to break our hearts for the things which break the heart of God, He takes us at our word. Most of us know what it is to be even remotely heartbroken: it's a painful place to be, to say the least. When we ask God to break our hearts for the lost, for the hurting and the broken, we have to be prepared to see them through His eyes, to see their pain and not be able to look past it. To feel real compassion and the measure of love Jesus has for those people. It's easier said than felt, that's for sure. If we're honest, it's sometimes easier to change channel when the plight of victims of war or famine flashes up on the news than to consider for more than a moment the agony they're going through. It's sometimes too easy to block out the discomfort we feel when we start to sympathise with someone else's pain. It's not comfortable or clean or straightforward.

The next line, "everything I am for your Kingdom's cause" is also quite a bold statement and not an offer we should make without serious consideration and understanding of what we're saying. I've only just begun to understand how literally God takes us when we offer Him ourselves, and that's not to say it's not an amazing and beautiful thing to put yourself fully into His hands but equally it can't just be treated as a nice, pretty line written to fill a song which we should sing along with, if we can't then back it up with our lives. Don't get me wrong - commiting your life wholly to God and relinquishing all control to Him (or as much as you're able to at each stage of your walk with Him) is the most fantastic and fulfilling adventure ever! A bad day with God is better than any good thing without Him involved. I just hope and pray that I will never let myself glibly sing along with such songs, without always considering the full weight and impact of what I am singing - and thereby promising - to God. There is such power in music and I pray that I, for one, will only ever sing to God what I am willing to live out.