music
It's strange how much passion a song can bring forth from the soul. It has the capability of rousing emotions long stored away, or to define a current emotion too deep to express in words. It can give you the desire to dance, laugh, weep for joy or sadness, pray, or do countless other actions. I recall a phrase I saw when walking around with Martin one day: Life without music isn't fair. Now, while I somehow started dating the only person I know who doesn't feel like this, I still find the statement completely true. One of those songs that arouses rather strong emotions in me is Sara Groves' "When the Saints", which is clearly a take off from "When the Saints Go Marching In". The lyrics are:
Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I can’t let it go
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when I think of all who've gone before me and lived the faithful life,
their courage compels me
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying mans side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down that door
I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
These lyrics are so true! What an incredible way to voice the tension between grieving for such a broken world but finding your hope in God and the promises found in His Word! It's so true that our souls get overwhelmed with sorrow when we see the injustice here on Earth, when we see friends and family hurt, when we hear stories of concentration camps, when we are confronted with the intense sorrow and pain which is so prevalent in the world around us. And yet, there is hope! Thank God! Christ came to redeem the world, and one fine day there will be no more pain or sorrow for God's people, only songs of praise and adoration to the Word, our Savior. Thank God that He has given us examples of people truly working for justice in efforts to share Christ's love! What a helpful way to encourage us in persevering through the sorrows with which we are surrounded!
It's interesting that the Gospel isn't actually in the song - why is the world so broken? why do these people still have hope and continue to persevere? This song is clearly meant for Christians in a prayer to God for perseverance in loving people sacrificially, as He demonstrated for us by sending Christ Jesus to the world to be the only sufficient sacrifice for the atrocities that we all hold in our hearts, which are exhibited by our selfish tendencies and hurtful actions towards others. We cannot change our sinful hearts enough to appease a perfect loving and just God! No, we needed someone to change our hearts for us! Thank God for His mercy on a sinful world that He sent Jesus to live a perfect life as both man and God to endure God's wrath for our sins! THAT is the hope found in this song - we are compelled to love by the love which is shown us, especially the love which God revealed He has for us by sacrificing Jesus in order to pay our debt.
I love music so much <3
Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I can’t let it go
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when I think of all who've gone before me and lived the faithful life,
their courage compels me
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying mans side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down that door
I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
These lyrics are so true! What an incredible way to voice the tension between grieving for such a broken world but finding your hope in God and the promises found in His Word! It's so true that our souls get overwhelmed with sorrow when we see the injustice here on Earth, when we see friends and family hurt, when we hear stories of concentration camps, when we are confronted with the intense sorrow and pain which is so prevalent in the world around us. And yet, there is hope! Thank God! Christ came to redeem the world, and one fine day there will be no more pain or sorrow for God's people, only songs of praise and adoration to the Word, our Savior. Thank God that He has given us examples of people truly working for justice in efforts to share Christ's love! What a helpful way to encourage us in persevering through the sorrows with which we are surrounded!
It's interesting that the Gospel isn't actually in the song - why is the world so broken? why do these people still have hope and continue to persevere? This song is clearly meant for Christians in a prayer to God for perseverance in loving people sacrificially, as He demonstrated for us by sending Christ Jesus to the world to be the only sufficient sacrifice for the atrocities that we all hold in our hearts, which are exhibited by our selfish tendencies and hurtful actions towards others. We cannot change our sinful hearts enough to appease a perfect loving and just God! No, we needed someone to change our hearts for us! Thank God for His mercy on a sinful world that He sent Jesus to live a perfect life as both man and God to endure God's wrath for our sins! THAT is the hope found in this song - we are compelled to love by the love which is shown us, especially the love which God revealed He has for us by sacrificing Jesus in order to pay our debt.
I love music so much <3