How would a people who’ve just realized they’ve been rescued sound; what would they say to the One who has made the seemingly impossible happen? That was the sensation that Leslie Jordan and David Leonard were trying to access with so much of their music when they formed All Sons and Daughters in the Nashville area (see the map here of the Nashville area [in Davidson County] in Tennessee) in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st Century. “Hear the Sound”, from the period around 2012, occupied a place alongside other songs that they felt would connect broken, struggling people with an appreciation for the God who freed them. Is a ‘thank you’ enough, or would any number of words be sufficient for such an episode? Just consider what Leslie and David, with some apparent help from Matt Maher, thought would be appropriate words to say to the God-Redeemer.
Though these composers don’t share what precisely was behind ‘Hear the Sound’, what they have made clear (in an interview in NewReleaseToday, see link below) was their intent to make their music relevant to people gathered in a church for worship, to invite these people to join in with them. And, something in the lyrics they wrote further suggests they had a particular idea about what such a group of people should ask God to hear. Take a look through Psalms, and notice how ‘hear’ is used, as the ancient songwriters asked for help while in distress, with so many cries for mercy or deliverance or perhaps just complaints offered up to Him who can deliver. Alternately, many praise psalms to extol God are also evident in this ancient songbook, and perhaps that is where these 21st Century songwriters went when they sought to offer a contemporary version of a psalm of praise. Though God is a Divine Being with love and compassion at His core that guide His response to our distress, He has so many other characteristics that stand out. We can certainly ask for His help, but Leslie, David, and Matt must have been dwelling on other reasons why a people might call out to Him – to tell Him we acknowledge and honor Him for who He is. These three would have found a large number of psalms that speak of His ‘mercy’, ‘grace’, patience (‘slow to anger’), ‘majesty’, ‘forgive(ness)’, and His ‘redeem(ing)’ and ‘restor(ing)’ mission, and of course His ‘love’. One other term they use four times, however, is ‘forever’, for which there are abundant references in Psalms to laud Him: Psalm 9, 29, 33, 48, 66, 68, 89, 92, 100, 102, 105-7, 110-11, 117-19, 125, 133, 135-6, 138, 146, is not an exhaustive list. ‘Let the heavens roar’, and ‘echo across the ground’, they lift to Him, as a prompt for His ears to have His own creation tell of His greatness.
Lest Luke 19:40 be called into play (Jesus said ‘stones will cry out’, if the people did not shout His name), Leslie, David, and Matt give today’s disciples one more psalm to shout our admiration for Him. What’s the best way to have Him listen to you and me? That’s what these three answer with their song. And, it’s a reminder that His attributes haven’t stopped just because Psalm 136 ended with 26 verses, for example. How about if you and I could pick up where that psalmist stopped, since He focused so many of his thoughts on earth’s and Israel’s ancient history? Has not God been praiseworthy for the last two millennia, or more personally in yours and my lifetime? Make sure those stones aren’t warming up today, to do what we’re neglecting to do!
Read here about the worship duo who were two of the three composers of the song: All Sons & Daughters - Wikipedia
Read here about the album on which the song appears: Live (All Sons & Daughters album) - Wikipedia
Read about two of the composers here: All Sons And Daughters Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday
See here for information on the map-picture of Nashville metro area: File:Map of Tennessee highlighting Davidson County.svg - Wikimedia Commons
