God Still Lives -- Alton H. Howard

 

Alton Howard was thinking about God in two ways in 1971 when he composed a declarative statement – “God Still Lives”. Alton looked around where he lived on planet Earth, and then he looked to the heavens. His fingerprints are on both, Alton said. Though Alton did not explicitly reveal what moved his lyricism and tune-writing energies that resulted in this firm statement of belief, it’s not really necessary to investigate his motives. The evidence is in Alton’s life, and what Alton expressed was something that he could also have gleaned from opening his bible and reading the first few pages about creation and imagining Him at work in the very beginning (as depicted in this work of art by Lucas Cranach the Elder, in 1564). Given the creative genius that he saw in the Creator, perhaps that is what ultimately motivated the life of Alton Howard, a man who had so many talents and who sought to reflect this indescribably great God to others. ‘Be a mirror’, might be one way of saying what Alton was up to, to show others what He can do.   

 

It’s all over Alton’s life, as a lifelong Louisianan, church elder, entrepreneur, and ultimately a communicator of God’s character to others, including in the songs he wrote and published widely. If someone said a wealthy man was blessed by God so that he could pass along those blessings to others, that would be another way to describe Alton. This translator and communicator of God to others did it through a radio ministry and church camp, but also through the songs that flowed from his inner being and into the 18 songbooks that he published or authored. It could be said that this was a conscious decision of Alton to inform as many as possible through God’s music medium about Him. Splashing across the music score what he felt about God was just a natural expression for Alton, one that he spent a lifetime exercising. It was as if he was trying to mimic in his own way the everlasting nature of the One who he could see in so many ways. If Alton ran out of ways to see impressions of Him here on Earth, he saw him in the heavens when he looked up (probably not unlike this photo of the heavens captured by the NASA and ESA Hubble telescope).

Alton saw the ‘heart(s) of…men’, and knew of God’s work among men in ‘ages past’ (v.1), and said that spoke volumes about this living God. He was also evident in nature – ‘rocks’, ‘hills’, ‘birds’, and the ‘rippling brook’ (chorus) – as a constant reminder of Him and His marvelous handiwork that excites our senses. The other three verses of Alton’s praise to Him suggest he was looking upward much of the time that he considered His being. ‘Space afar’ (v.2), ‘ten thousand worlds’, ‘the order of the universe’ (v.3), and the ‘distant star’ (v.4) occupied Alton’s thoughts and musical expression in 1971. Whether one traveled in the mind to these faraway lights or came back down to earth, Alton knew he could rely on Him to be the following: ‘righteousness’ (v.1), powerful (vv.2-3), and indeed ‘great’ beyond our ability to express it to Him adequately (v.4).

 

If we say that He is living, as Alton believed because of all that he could see, perhaps that is the best way to honor and live for Him. That means He is watching and seeing how you and I react to this pivotal piece of information about Him. Am I stuck in the day’s all-too-human events, which so often are most definitely not ‘on earth as in heaven’, as the God-Son once taught believers to pray to a living God? Or, are those just rote words? Others will say that they cannot see Him, so why pray to a God you cannot see? Indeed, He has been for most of human history hidden, physically. That was true at one time, until He came to show Himself. Does He need to show up again for you to conclude that He lives? What do you make of all that Alton has already seen?          

 

Read about the author-composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Hardy_Howard   and also here: https://christianchronicle.org/songbook-publisher-entrepreneur-howard-dies-at-age-81/?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2809510&ObjectID=4369268&ObjectType=35

 

See here for information on the first image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Creation-Luther-Bible-1534.jpg ….This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_creation_narrative

 

See here for information on the second image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hubble_ultra_deep_field.jpg ….This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and ESA. NASA Hubble material (and ESA Hubble material prior to 2009) is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that only NASA, STScI, and/or ESA is credited as the source of the material. This license does not apply if ESA material created after 2008 or source material from other organizations is in use….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator_deity

Battle Belongs -- Brian Johnson and Phil Wickham

 

Jahaziel had a message (See picture of him here delivering the words from God’s Spirit when others were afraid – 2 Chronicles 20:14-17.), and it was that the “Battle Belongs” to Him. So don’t be afraid! The peoples of God had been told that before, but it must have been the passage of time and the danger right before their eyes that made them cower once more. If Brian Johnson and Phil Wickham could have known another fellow’s name, they might also have given some credit to a tattoo artist for an eye-catching phrase, because that’s what got this pair to thinking and recalling what Jahaziel had said so long ago. Their music radars were pretty active that day, and so they didn’t miss what He wanted them to recall. You might not think there’s a battle or some trouble in your path, but we all live on a planet where things happen, and we could feel overwhelmed. Do you have a plan? Listen to what Jahaziel told an army…it’s a different kind of foxhole strategy.  

 

So, I cannot remember if a tattoo has ever inspired any of the songs in this blog – but I don’t see the word ‘tattoo’ (or ‘body-art’!) listed among my labels, so this song story has reminded me of an axiom: each song has something unique about it. And, tattoo will be a new label from this point forward. Perhaps Brian and Phil had never encountered such an inspiration before, either. In 2019, Brian saw the tattoo with words that he thought said something that could be central to a song that he and Phil were tossing around. ‘I fight on my knees’, some anonymous person had said, and actually repeated by having it inscribed on themselves or someone else’s skin. By early in 2020, this pair of songwriters had worked up the song further by using a story in God’s word to provide more inspiration. It involved a couple of people with names that started with ‘J’ – Jehoshaphat and Jahaziel. Jehoshaphat the king was set to lead his army into battle against Ammon and Moab, and he admitted ‘…we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’ (2 Chron 20:12). Jahaziel must have overheard this prayer, and God gave him Jehoshaphat’s answer – ‘It is God’s battle, not yours.’ (v.15) So, just follow His plan, and those scoundrels will beat themselves (vv. 16-23). And, the troops actually sang another song as part of this great plan – ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever’ (vv. 21-22). As Brian and Phil saw it, the ‘battle’ and ‘mountain’ were overcome with the words of that tattoo on their hearts, and the real-life historical example of the Israelites of the two ‘J’s’ beginning their mission with prayer, encouragement, and trust. ‘Victory’, ‘beauty’, ‘empty tomb’, and 'almighty fortress' are key phrases that Brian and Phil use to counter the ‘shadow’, ‘fear’, ‘ashes’, and the ‘cross’ that can make the warrior – even if he’s God-sent – hesitate for just a second. For them, even as the coronavirus threatened the world in 2020, the ‘Battle Belong(ed)’ still to Him. Just ‘fight on (your) knees’ to begin any struggle, and you’ll see how nothing is a struggle for God.

 

Phil said the Covid time was dark, and that ‘Battle Belongs’ was like a light, for himself as well as for others. So much noise and misdirection characterized that period, Phil related, that finding the truth was challenging; amidst all of that, he remembered that the song’s words provided hope, courage that otherwise would have been overcome by the confusion of the time. That sounds like what so often happens on a battlefield, sometimes referred to as the ‘fog of war’, when smoke and a cacophony try to shroud and drown out the One who can steer us through a mess. It might be too hard to see and hear standing upright, so getting closer to the ground is perhaps as useful as any advice we could hear. Get down!...that’s what you might hear, telling you how to best avoid the bullets and other flying objects. And, while you’re down there, look up, too.     

 

 

Read how the song was developed here: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/phil-wickham/battle-belongs

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jehoshaphat_and_the_people_mourning_-_the_prophecy_of_Jahaziel.png …This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahaziel .

Ah, Lord God – Jeremiah and Kay Chance

 

Her name is known, but anything more about Kay Chance is a mystery, other than the song with her name attached to it. Actually, she did not originally write “Ah, Lord God”, but instead the weeping prophet Jeremiah (see him depicted in the 17^th Century Rembrandt artwork, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, here) did as a prayer to God (Jeremiah 32:17, 27); so, one more thing about which we can be certain is that Kay had opened her bible one day and was inspired to use Jeremiah’s opening words of a prayer as a musical echo of that ancient prophet’s verbalization of trust in the Lord. For her that day, perhaps Kay found something that washed over and covered her like a blanket when she read what Jeremiah had said to God in a most difficult and uncertain circumstance.  

 

Put yourself in Jeremiah’s shoes (or sandals) for a moment. What happened to him as chapter 32 of his prophecy opens must have seemed like a risky and unwise proposition. Jerusalem and what’s left of the southern kingdom (comprising the lands of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the Levites who served the Temple in Jerusalem) was already set to be overrun and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian horde (aka the Chaldeans), who had been besieging the city of David. And yet, God had already told Jeremiah to accept the offer to buy the field of his cousin Hanamel in Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown in Benjamin. What? Why? So my investment can go down the drain!? Talk about your insider trading tip – Jeremiah had the lowdown on what would happen, and yet God tells him to invest anyway. Make the deal official, with all the right documents signed in front of witnesses – what must those people have thought of Jeremiah’s business acumen! -- and have your trusted aide, Baruch, seal all of these deeds and other official papers in a clay jar for safekeeping. Jeremiah faithfully followed orders, despite what others may have thought. And then he prays, giving God his unswerving praise, but nevertheless concluding his prayer by seeming to ask for understanding – ‘why, Lord, did you want me to buy that field that is due to be overrun and fall into the hands of those wicked Chaldeans’? God does answer, reflecting back to Jeremiah a mirror-like question that echoes how Jeremiah’s prayer began -- “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (32:27) It’s as if God is reminding his prophet of his own words, and of his implicit trust just moments earlier as he lauded God’s might and purposeful conduct in saving his people from Egypt, and then in delivering their punishment for disobedience that had brought them to that point. ‘I will save them again, after this chastisement’, He replies. ‘Fields will (again) be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.’ (32:44) What Jeremiah came to understand was that what he did that day would foreshadow what God would do in a greater, broader way in the not-too distant future. Ah, Lord God, indeed!      

 

Jeremiah could not have been unaware that God’s tactical moves in shepherding His people, including His prophets, were part of a larger strategy that at the time seemed perplexing. Having His vision can seem like a bit of a stretch, if I’m honest. Faith is not an easy proposition, meaning that you might not have the reassurance right in front of you. And yet, knowing how God has worked among His people does tell me I need not be blind, either. I can see with other eyes, in my mind as I read about Him and reason out what His character calls me to believe and to do. It is having His Spirit that is most important. We don’t know any more information about Kay Chance and the episode in which she walked in 1976. But, she did know where to turn, in faith, to see how another faithful, trusting servant proceeded. He obeyed and then asked for understanding. That should tell you and me something about Him. It’s OK to have questions, as long as they aren’t tied to stubbornness, but rather to God-centered confidence.       

 

 

See information about the image here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Jeremia_treurend_over_de_verwoesting_van_Jeruzalem_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg …The author died in 1669, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah