You Are My Hiding Place -- Michael Ledner

Michael Ledner felt really vulnerable as he reflected on his circumstances one day in 1980. He couldn’t ignore how he felt, though he was a firm believer in the One to whom he turned as he sat on a bed with a guitar and his bible close by. “You Are My Hiding Place”, he called out to God, using the words of David, his ancient spiritual compatriot who likewise sought Him who can reassure the lonely. He wasn’t completely certain he wanted to dwell in this place, however, or if he wanted to share with others the feelings the song evoked. It was a private moment. It took his travelling halfway around the globe to discover others needed to link with that intimacy, to rest in the comfort He offers.

Up and out of the pit came Michael Ledner, from a low moment into a broader appreciation for His God and the life he began to experience after this difficult period. Ledner was separated from his wife at the time and living in a tiny room in Arizona, so small that it must have been easy for him to feel isolated and forgotten. But, he clung to something – or rather, someone -- one day as he read Psalms and strummed his guitar. King David’s Psalms 32 (one of the ‘maskil’ Psalms) and 56 provided the inspiration that Michael needed, as he pondered and worshipped alone, but not without purpose. He’d often turned to music, not unlike his predecessor whose words struck him and provided the prose Michael used to vocalize his own hiding place, some three millennia later. (David sometimes sought physical refuge in a cave, not too unlike the manmade one shown here, along a coastal area in Israel.)

But, as he reflected for some time afterwards, he wondered how wise it would be to share his feelings. Was he being a weakling?  He recorded the song for himself a couple of different times, including once with a few friends, but he didn’t really share it otherwise in churches he visited for a while. It was still a difficult part of his life, as his marriage finally and permanently dissolved. Many months later, he was in David’s homeland, and again he shared the song with some visiting friends. Unbeknownst to him initially, they took the song back home, where it found wide acceptance; a formal recording by Maranatha Music soon ensued. From a private, difficult moment, to another where his experience found broad camaraderie with other believers, this was a sweet turnaround for Ledner. It was his renewal moment, and his life progressed positively after that. Many years later, he’d become a pastor and was married again, feeling as though he’d learned a valuable lesson from the day he sat in a small room with his guitar, bible, and feelings he didn’t want at the time.

Don’t run away, or try to ignore the pain – that perhaps best sums up what Michael Ledner discovered from a challenging episode in his late 20’s. He wasn’t alone after all. There’s no place to hide, but there is a person who can hide me. Seems kinda strange to realize this, until you understand, as Ledner probably did, that hiding in a place only makes you lonely. Hiding in a person is radically different.    

Sources for the song story are the books “Celebrate Jesus: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2003; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing – Charles Wesley

He was celebrating and feeling inspired by some words he heard another believer say. If you asked 42-year old Charles Wesley what he was feeling in 1749 when he wrote “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”, that would be his short answer. You could also read the verses of the 19-stanza poem that he wrote if you wanted to imagine his feelings. What was it that moved the original speaker of the words, the ones that Wesley remembered for so many years? What did Wesley want with such a powerful instrument like the tongue (seen here)?

Wesley and his brother John met some Moravians in 1738, and got an eyeful and no doubt an earful too, leading them to choices they made that changed the rest of their lives. In short, they personalized their faith in Christ because of the influence of the Moravians. And, this sense comes through in the words that Charles wrote. Check out the link below to all 19 verses, especially verses 9 through 13, which are very personal words that Wesley records, but which we in the 21^st Century rarely sing. It’s said that the first verse of Wesley’s hymn recorded in today’s hymnals-‘O for a thousand tongues…’-was actually the ninth verse when he originally wrote this poem. And, the hymn’s title was in fact “For the Anniversary of One’s Conversion”, evidently a way for Wesley to commemorate the day he realized Jesus’ sacrifice was indeed for him. So, maybe those verses actually came first, including verse 9 – ‘On this glad day…’.   The other verses of the hymn broaden the worshipper’s view to mankind, a perspective that Charles and his brother John had already adopted when they encountered the Moravians. The Wesleys were returning to England after a missionary trip to the American continent, and on board a ship and later in their own homeland they began to appreciate the Moravians’ spiritual depth. Moravians are a people noted for, among other things, missionary zeal and love of music. Reportedly, one Moravian leader, Peter Bohler, spoke the words to Wesley that inspired the hymn’s contemporary title ‘O for a Thousand Tongues”. They resonated with Wesley until they were recorded 11 years later.      

One might say that Peter Bohler’s words became Charles Wesley’s theme song. He played a key role in the Weselys’ lives, convincing them that faith must be genuine and passionate, a general movement in the Protestant world called pietism. Peter Bohler may not have had a thousand tongues, but Charles Wesley did his part to manifest that phrase musically, writing 19 verses in this one hymn, and over 6,000 other hymns throughout his life. What did Wesley hear when he imagined 1,000 tongues singing together? I might think that’s not too difficult, if I go to a mega-church, right? But, think like a Wesley or a Bohler, as a missionary might. Think about perhaps 1,000 languages, spanning the globe, reaching every human. Then, multiply that through the generations, perhaps just since Wesley’s time. That’s what this hymn and its message could do, potentially. Thousands become millions and billions.  Keep singing, and warming up for the hereafter.  

Information on the song was obtained from the books  “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1982, Kregel Publications; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 

See the following website for the hymn’s 19 different original verses:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/f/o/ofor1000.htm

The following are links to the Moravian church and one of its followers, Peter Bohler, who reportedly inspired the composer’s words for the hymn:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_B%C3%B6hler

The Battle Belongs to the Lord – Jamie Owens-Collins

July 4th. American Movie Classics channel. What do you guess is on? Midway…Patton…Glory…The Battle...(you complete the title of that last one). A war movie stirs my patriotism, but does it really convey the reality of what war does to someone? Can it prompt courage? How would you confront death? Or, if it’s more than just theory for you, how do you currently confront a death-struggle? Jamie Owens-Collins has written a song, “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”, that echoes how Israel faced its enemy (2 Chronicles 20) in battle – with divine protection. It reminds us that God, while often mysterious and invisible to us, can still overpower whomever He chooses, by Himself.

Jamie Owens-Collins comes from a musical family, so it’s no surprise that she might also use this medium to tell us her thoughts. Her father Jimmy wrote “Holy, Holy”, and her mother Carol wrote “Freely, Freely”, so we know Jamie observed their lives as musicians and worshippers. We might also say she saw them, or someone close by, as warriors, too when she wrote “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”. She shares with us that the Lord’s protection is not just for someone who wears a uniform, but also for me, a civilian in the secular, daily-grind world. What she says about the song’s origin, and how her own life has played out in its aftermath, is also instructive about how God speaks to those He chooses to use. Unlike many of the songs she’s written, Owen-Collins says this song was composed in short order, during a brief car ride to a church concert in 1985. “Boom! It was just there. By the time I got to the church, I had it finished.” Great! That makes me want to take up the pen and compose my own ditty, how about you? But, wait. Five years after its inception, Jamie was struck with depression, a four-year battle of her own. Was it her own? She admits that she discovered anew how weak she was, and how strong and dependable God is, during her illness. Could God have been trying to tell Jamie this, in a personal way, when she wrote “The Battle…” in 1985? One wonders.

Owens-Collins says this straightforward song speaks to her about God’s ways. “There are times when God comes in and just, boom!, answers your prayer right now and gives you a miracle. But, most of the time, He lets us really walk through the process.” The song Owens-Collins wrote wasn’t easily accepted by producers, she recounts, but “…the funny thing is, it’s such a simple song. You know, I’ve written other songs I feel were much more cleverly put together and crafted. This thing (the ‘Battle…” song) is just as simple as it can be, but that’s the one. I don’t know exactly how a song takes off.” God is often inscrutable, an enigma. And, He’s probably a vexation for the unbeliever who seeks the ultimate answers. Even for believers, this is often true, especially when trouble looms, or pounces. My only rational response is to cry ‘Help!’. I take heart that God does not fear in battle. He, as perfect love, casts fear aside (1 John 4:18). And so I hide myself in Him, and yield my freedom and the battlefield to Him, even if it is Independence Day.


Information on Jamie Owens-Collins’ story obtained from “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000.

Be Unto Your Name - Lynn DeShazo and Gary Sadler

…He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)

I used to use a website that caters to singles looking for ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister’ right. Maybe I’m just tuned into this part of the world more than others, but I bet you’ve heard the same old adage I recall that advises those who are searching that ‘opposites attract’. Funny, I don’t ever remember anyone telling me that I should be looking for my opposite, despite this motto. Does it mean I oughta be hunting the opposite personality, or is the opposite gender sufficient?!


Some of my single friends occasionally share with me their adventures, and their misadventures too, but I don’t remember any of them lauding the ‘opposites attract’ method. But, as I look at the song “Be Unto Your Name”, written by Lynn DeShazo and Gary Sadler in 1996, I almost wonder if God has put this technique into practice in His pursuit of me, and that He expects me to do the same as I pursue Him. DeShazo and Sadler relate that the song we’ve come to know since December 1996 (when it was written) was the product of perhaps something they had been pondering for weeks, or months, or even years. “We started talking about how fragile and temporal - just a vapor, a moment - life is; how our lives pass so quickly and yet God's life goes on forever.” The song’s praise chorus to the Lord was a natural reaction to those thoughts, they say. Though we are made in His image, the song reminds us that we are also different from God in some significant ways – we’re temporary, vaporous, broken vessels, while God is the reverse. So why does He love us? What about our flaws draws Him to relate to us? The prophet Isaiah tells us that even the divine Jesus, when He became flesh like us, became unattractive, undesirable (Isaiah 53:2).

What is it, then, that animates the relationship between God and his chosen people? DeShazo and Sadler say that the feelings in the song “tapped into something that had been laying (lying) deep within our hearts”… “Be Unto Your Name” is my admission to God that I have nothing to offer Him. Nevertheless, He wants me anyway! I’ll never fully understand why, while I’m here. And perhaps here’s the way the songwriters, moved by the Spirit, intend that this song works: I get in touch with this basic reality -my defective, wart-covered life- and stand with mouth open, astonished, that the Holy One grants me the prospect of sharing His perfection, His gift. I grasp the direction of this relationship now…it’s me toward Him. I say ‘Be Unto your Name’ as I make the move and offer myself to Him, even as His alter-ego, and say ‘I know I don’t stack up Lord, but I know you do. You’re the One who makes this link between us work.’ Be Unto Your Name.

Information about this song's development was gleaned from an article at the following site:

http://www.lynndeshazo.com/articles/BeUnto.pdf