+ Search My Heart

Confession

“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light” Micah 7:8

The first verse of this song came so quickly, almost spontaneously, because I recognise the feeling so well – back again in the realisation of my weakness, how far I can fall. Like David, I sometimes get so caught up in God’s glory that I can’t imagine ever running away again, but then I sink with David to his Psalm 32 place – I’m wasting away, my strength is sapped, night never turning to day. When we mess up, our natural response is running away from the only solution: God’s Presence. But I’m realising more and more that David’s secret was not perfection, it was a greater confidence in God’s mercy and goodness than in his own fallen-ness. Instead of focussing on his mistakes, great though they were, David learned to move the eyes of his heart from his failure to God’s victory of grace. The Lord already knows what we’ve become and He waits until our hearts grow sick for Him, until we remember that it was for this very reason that Christ died and rose: to release us from our guilt not just into freedom from punishment, but into worship and intimacy with Him. How much more should we follow David’s example in the light of the cross, and of the ultimate example Christ gave us in the Parable of the Lost Son. He doesn’t begrudgingly allow us back into the servants’ quarters until our next mistake – he welcomes us home as a son or daughter and heir.

“How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1

+ Come Away

Invitation

“Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me” Song of Solomon 2:13

Come Away is based on verses 10-14 from chapter 2 of the book of Song of Solomon. The adoring beloved gently and passionately woos his lover with the declaration that a new season is beginning. In the same way, God beckons us into intimacy with himself; we are invited, through grace, to leave the darkness and shame of the past in favour of a joyful and redemptive loving unity. The original poetry lends itself so naturally to musical expression and hopefully this song goes some way to bringing these words alive to your heart.

+ Nothing More

Desperation

“You, God are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” Psalm 63:1

King David wrote these words in the Desert of Judah when he was fleeing a revolt that his son Absalom had incited against him. In the heat of the desert, when all around him is falling apart, when lack of water is a genuine matter of life and death, David writes that his ‘whole being’ longs for God – stronger than his physical thirst is his need for the Presence of God. In the midst of a crisis, he reminds himself of the God who is his friend. He remembers that God’s love is ‘better than life’, that in God he is ‘satisfied as with the richest of foods’ and he sets his heart to worship. This song came about during a time of disappointment and upset, when I was desperate to see change in a situation. David’s relentless pursuit of the Lord even in his dire situation was an encouragement and inspiration to me – a call to remind myself of His goodness to me and my need for Him, to remember that His love is better than life, and that in Him I am satisfied as with the richest of foods. This is a song of shifted perspective.