You Are Good -- Israel Houghton

 

This songwriter must have first heard the foundation for this song, really the fulcrum for his life, from his mother. The moment in San Diego (see its flag here) in 1971 that most influenced Israel Houghton’s life happened before he was even born, but is it possible that he might have heard or detected some noteworthy words though the umbilical cord while still in his mother’s womb? There were other words like “You Are Good” that he later adopted as his own life’s theme when his purpose became clear. His life's start, even before his birth, was not very auspicious, but that part of his story must have made the bounty of his life by the time he reached 40 years old seem so much sweeter. Don’t ever forget the pit where you might have been, except for the charity of an anonymous person, someone who was just a willing vessel for the God who is good. Israel hadn’t forgotten, and so he composed something so that would make it impossible to overlook what had happened four decades earlier.  

 

Israel’s first name emerged from what his mother began to read along a lonely street – it was the gift of a bible from a woman she’d never met, someone who just thought this young eight-months pregnant woman needed God in the worst way. She kept seeing ‘Israel’ in this book, following her submission to Him on Carlsbad Avenue that day, and so his name and Israel’s direction were already in progress. His parents’ cross-cultural union (Israel’s biological father was black, his mother was white) had disintegrated, but his new stepfather’s work as a church pastor, and his mother’s musical background (she’d been a concert pianist) gave the one-year-old Israel lots to build on. His mother’s parents had tried to convince her to abort the unborn fetus within her, a fact that some mothers might have chosen to conceal from their offspring. But it was just one more startling ingredient within Israel Houghton as he approached 40 years old, one more reason to say ‘thanks’ to God, over and over in 2001. Using Psalms 100 and 124, Israel created a way to vocalize how much he appreciated the path he’d been blessed to take, certainly not something he could have chosen for himself as an unborn child and then as a youngster in California. But he was grateful not to have been an abortion casualty, and Psalm 124 helped him find what he calls ‘an internal platform’ in his role as a worship leader; it’s an attitude that, as David penned, “If it had not been for the Lord, who was on my side...”. That’s what motivates Israel, who uses some brief words from Psalm 100 to express in ‘You Are Good’ his gratitude. It’s not a complicated affair in ‘You Are Good’, but rather repeated phrases directed toward the Lord, including the song’s title words, and that His ‘mercy endureth forever’, and that all ‘nation(s)’ and ‘tongues’ from all ‘generation(s)’ can praise Him. Israel invites all others to join his celebration of what has transpired. He’s evidently said it for himself so much, that he now solicits multitudes of other people to join him, so that his otherwise solitary praise might be magnified properly to advance the name of the One who can save. He can do, and will do, for countless others what Israel’s life has already represented in one small episode.

 

Being saved can take on a wide variety of looks. To calculate it, you can begin by taking a world census, and that might get you close to how many ways God can save. And by imagining that, you’ll see just how good He really is. Then, multiply that across all of human life’s presence here on Earth…how many people, and how much time would that portray? It’s just way too much to process. But, the last of the Apostles got to see something like that, when he writes of the multitude that was before his eyes (Revelation 7:9; 17:15; 19:1 and 19:6), a sight and a sound that must have given him chills. That is the home of this good God. Imagine the cosmic salvation scene that awaits. Seems like Israel Houghton already has.   

 

See some information on the author-composer here: Israel Houghton - Wikipedia

 

See biography of the author-composer here: http://www.integritymusic.com/artists/bio/israel.html

 

See the song story briefly here: The Story Behind the Song You Are Good | PraiseCharts

 

See Israel’s story here also: Israel Houghton: An Intimate Portrait of Worship | CBN

 

See information on the image of the San Diego flag here: File:Flag of San Diego, California.svg - Wikimedia Commons This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1928 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart and the copyright renewal logs. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 years p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 years p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 years p.m.a.), Mexico (100 years p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 years p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.

For All You've Done -- Clint Lagerberg

 

Just ask some country music performers in Nashville, and they will probably acknowledge that Clint Lagerberg is a talented songwriter and producer. But, if you mention only the name of his song “For All You’ve Done” in Christian songwriting circles, you might bump into a couple of songs by other writers (like Jason Ingram, and by Reuben Morgan at Hillsong) who’ve likewise used the same title that Clint employed for this praise to God. So, beware when you go hunting out there in web-land! Clint had some different and personal thoughts about why this God was so praiseworthy, so see if you can get what he’s driving at when he talks to God with words like ‘mess’, ‘cleanser’, and ‘crushed’…and that’s just in his first verse. What would motivate Clint to write these words, perhaps while in the confines of his Nashville studio? (See the seal for Nashville here.)

 

The short answer is ‘we don’t know’, when asked why Clint Lagerberg composed in 2002 the words and music to ‘For All You’ve Done”. But he holds nothing back in this confessional, so maybe we don’t really need a lot of stirring amplification that he could give us in an interview. The lyrics paired up with the music that Clint created are plenty provocative all on their own. ’I’m a screw-up’, he says, basically, with a ‘mess’ of a life that only a merciful God can clean up. This God elected to be ‘crushed by human hands formed from dust’ (v.1) -- dust that God Himself fashioned into that which would kill Him. Could any other words, thick with sad irony, better describe the surreal relationship between our Creator and you and me? One can hardly speak these words, let alone sing them, without a bittersweet taste in them. Clint’s feelings are not just his own, are they? Clint uses other words that are very evocative, and frankly not often heard in our songs. Clint says he has a ‘learning curve’ (v.2), an expression that has made its way into our lexicon only within the last 100 years or so, and a way for Clint to admit to God that even moderns like us haven’t figured out life’s challenges. Finally, Clint has a voice that cries out with ‘erode’ and ‘explode’(v.3), opposites really – one that says anxious feelings melt in upon themselves and vanish, while the other exclaims a redeemed sinner’s profound relief in a celebratory eruption. As Clint’s feelings throughout the song build to verse three’s crescendo, so does the believer’s life as it elapses and nears its conclusion. That’s worth remembering, as one becomes more and more aware of his mortality.

 

I cannot do more to fix all my past mistakes, especially as I get further away from them, and particularly the ones that sometimes bother my conscience, even decades later. If you’re reading this, does it sound familiar? There’s plenty of people I can visualize, characters whose error-prone ways could have doomed them. How conscious-stricken were Judas and Peter, two Apostles who made similar errors to disown Jesus in His last few days and hours before being executed. One wept bitterly and subsequently witnessed boldly for Christ, while the other could not live with his mistake…which one will you be like today? Later, Paul likewise was confronted with his gross errors, and called himself the chief sinner many years later. He could have sunk into a pit, never to emerge because of his former life as an ardent Jesus opponent and heralded Pharisee, and yet he let God work many wonders in and through him as he strained forward, instead of regretting by looking backward. (Philippians 3:4-14) I remember a friend, Jim Wilson, who had the same attitude in my lifetime, before he went to be with God in March 2018. Whose life speaks to you today? Does Jesus’ raised life say something that you can hear today?        

 

   

 

See here details on the song’s writer (Lagerberg), and the group (Point of Grace) that sings it here: Point Of Grace – For All You've Done Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

 

See here for an article about the songwriter: Featured SVS Producer: Clint Lagerberg - Music Producer & Songwriter (svsound.com)

 

See here for a description of one of the song’s more unique expressions. Learning curve - Wikipedia

 

The following notice was issued with the image of the Nashville seal: This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1928 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.  File:Seal of Nashville, Tennessee.png - Wikimedia Commons