Sovereign -- Chris Tomlin, Martin Chalk, Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, Jason Ingram

 

We often think of God as sovereign when He created everything in Genesis, but He will also be sovereign when time will reach full flower, as in Revelation, because His purposes for humanity will not be overcome by all the evil forces of the world and the universe. That is what John discovered in his vision of Him when he was on Patmos, and why he bowed in His presence. (See the Sovereign God depicted in The Vision of John on Patmos, woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld [1860]). Chris Tomlin, Martin Chalk, Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, and Jason Ingram also had some thoughts about His role as “Sovereign”, and how that impacts us today. It really makes a difference in my attitude and outlook to know that He made everything, and that He still is. He’s the I AM and He’s made a way for me. So, the trust that these five songwriters placed in God as they thought about His sovereignty in 2012 was not one that acknowledges Him as mere ruler. Why would anyone trust a ruler who is just powerful? That inspires fear. This Sovereign is also Love.

 

Chris Tomlin shared in a live performance and with an interviewer what ‘Sovereign’ has meant for him and what it should mean for those who take in the song’s words. The initial inspiration came from Matt, as Chris responded to a journalist’s question about how he and the others came to write about this special king. The first words that Matt shared were captivating, so that Chris and the others were able to build on what Matt had started. Just think about what it means to have Him as Sovereign – that was the essence of what Chris said was so powerful, especially when this name for Him is repeated throughout the lyrics. ‘Get that in your hearts, church’, is a paraphrase of what Chris said he hopes believers ingest as they hear and sing the words. He’s in our greatest accomplishments, but also there in our greatest failures. That makes Him someone who is perpetually available, a God who allows us to express the joyous overflow of thanksgiving for blessings, and who is also there to embrace and comfort us during the lowest points, too. He’s also not absent during the in-between, during tedium and ho-hum moments, Chris said, because He knows from moment-to-moment where you are. That quality of Him makes it possible for you and me to respond to Him on any occasion, and that’s how Chris suggested the song could be most effective. Give searchers, who can admit that they feel something must be missing in life, the opportunity to look inside of themselves and draw closer to Him who can fill that gap, no matter how big or small it is. And, as Chris further emphasized, He’s got more than gap-filling capability – He can do the amazing in anyone’s life, so just let Him do what He does to give you purpose. Your life doesn’t have to wallow in a solitary confinement pit when He’s in the picture.    

 

Chris also said that this Sovereign is not only powerful and compassionate, but also omniscient. He knows everything about me. And yet, He still wants me, even if I’m struggling and don’t know at times if He’s really there and has a plan for me. He doesn’t have to have a team of detectives follow me and discover what’s up with me. He already has the insight into me, because He’s got angels – like messengers or protectors -- to send in my direction. And, there’s all those like-believers that He’s given me for fellowship, advice, and edification. He’s got all the tools, all the people placed in my life, to give me a better handle on life’s challenges, and also so that I can mimic Him in lending fellow mortals a helping hand. It’s called community. It’s all the preparatory work of this Sovereign that has made this available. ‘Mountain air’ and ‘ocean floor’, in the ‘calm’ and the ‘storm’, and during the ’dark(ness)’ and at the ‘dawn’ – His fingerprints are on all of that, as these five songwriters remind us. ‘Trust’ emerges from knowing that crucial fact. His ‘everlasting arms’ don’t get weary; but, He’s not got them folded across His chest, either. Instead, He's stretched them out wide – cross-wide for you and me.  

 

One of the songwriters (Chris Tomlin) shares some thoughts about the song in a live performance at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVpk-QmISRo (watch from 0:35 – 1:45)  …and also see this link: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/sovereign-chris-tomlin/ for more on the song shared by Chris Tomlin (from 0:15 – 1:50)

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_236.png …The author died in 1872, 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/Book_of_Revelation

From Every Stormy Wind -- Hugh Stowell

Sometime around the third decade of the 19^th Century (in the 1820s), the author of some song lyrics, about something we don’t often hear mentioned, wrote with an utter confidence and joy, because “From Every Stormy Wind” he felt his rescue and eternal home were secure. Hugh Stowell was an English cleric in the Anglican Church, so it was not a surprise that he was steeped in theology and could thus write and speak boldly about safety in Christ. And what had he seen or heard that would enable him to do that? It was a “Peace at the Mercy Seat” (his hymn’s original title) that was Hugh’s foundation. He’d connected what God had said to Moses in the desert during the exodus from Egypt, and what a writer said centuries later about that same special place called the mercy seat (see a picture of it here, as it is depicted in the 1890 Holman Bible). We might not hear this term – atonement -- very often either, but Hugh certainly had. Saved, forgiven, rescued, graced…those might be more familiar to us, but put yourself in Moses’ sandals for a few moments. What was it like for him to meet the Holy God, and to know he couldn’t be clean enough for Him, except for His provision of mercy. Only God could take the steps necessary to ‘repair or make amends for a wrong action in restoring a relationship’. That last phrase is how your PC might define atonement for you.

 

Hugh must have been familiar with these two scriptures, and many more. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. (Hebrews 9:5) and also, the following: “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (Exodus 25:17-22) God planned to speak to the people from the mercy seat. Only He can occupy that space. Hugh didn’t have to ponder other earthly circumstances with dread from that point forward, as he expressed in his six lyrical verses. Nothing overwhelms His mercy when I accept what He’s done. Moses got it too, and so the people constructed the ark and the mercy seat as instructed. He could not see God’s face – he could not have survived such a vision – but he could do what God told him in order to meet His mercy. And, so can I.

 

‘Stormy wind’, and ‘woes’ (v.1) – those are about as much as Hugh had to say about mortal challenges, for there were so many other words to use in praise of the mercy seat in his poetry. Oh, we might feel ‘tempt­ed’, ‘de­so­late’, ‘dis­mayed’, or ‘de­feat(ed)’ (v. 4), but High did not dwell on those for long. Instead, he sensed ‘calm’, ‘sure(ty)’ (v.1); the ‘oil of gladness’, and ‘sweet(ness)’ (v.2); ‘blend(ing) of spirits’, ‘fellowship’, and ‘friend(ship)’ (v.3); being able to ‘soar like an eagle’, and a ‘greet(ing) from ‘Heaven’  -- what an amazing thought! (v.5). It was enough to make Hugh undismayed, even if his hands no longer worked as well, or if he could no longer speak, or even if his own heart stopped working (v.6). If the mercy seat remained a place where God still would want to meet him, that was enough. Moses may have sensed God’s anger on occasion – and so did the people. But, was it not worse when He stopped providing mercy for a time, as He did on multiple occasions during the time of the judges, when the people needed to be chastened (see Judges 2:11-15 as one example)? Even then, He responded in pity to bail them out when they groaned in pain (Judges 2:18). He’s still willing to reach down for me today, and you too. He’s got Jesus in the mercy seat, so go meet Him there.

 

 

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982.

 

See here for the hymn’s original six verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/f/r/o/m/e/fromevsw.htm

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holman_The_Mercy_Seat.jpg …This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1931, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_seat

 

Yes, I Believe God Is Real -- Alton H. Howard

 

This fellow didn’t have to look very far to see why he could answer that “Yes, I Believe God Is Real”. He might have been thinking about what it would be like to have God’s viewpoint of this blue spheroid He created, and indeed Alton Howard saw God in everything he could see in the earth and the universe that He created. (See here the earth, as God might have when He created it.) And so, that spurred Alton’s short testimonial in four verses and a chorus, and they’re not filled with any deep theology, but rather with suggestions about what anyone with two good eyes could ascertain. ‘Just look around yourself’, Alton might have summed up for anyone who asked him about God’s credibility and presence. It might strike a skeptic as too simple, but can you explain what you see without God in the picture? What takes more faith, to believe or not to believe? Is He really too incredible, or absurd? Alton didn’t think so.

 

Alton might easily be described as an exceptional person, and yet he pointed to whom he thought was truly exceptional – as the word actually means, according to the dictionary – and that would be God. Incomparable would be another appropriate adjective for Him, and how Alton perceived that incomparability is what his poem-song is all about. Though what, if any, specific event or circumstances stirred Alton’s inspiration for this song in 1973 (the year associated with its publication) are unknown, this author needed only what his life’s trajectory and its focus of worship spoke to him daily for the song’s content. So much could be said of Alton and his entrepreneurship and how his accomplishments resonate still today, and indeed if you want to know them, just check out the links below this entry – Alton’s obituary was certainly not one of mourning, but a celebration of a life so well lived. But if Alton could be called an entrepreneur extraordinaire, do you think it’s possible he was just looking at someone else as his model? What person looking at what He’s created – and Alton certainly looked quite closely, we could say – would conclude other than how Alton did? Alton Howard ticked them off in his few words – the stars and sky (v.1); storm(s) and the morn(ing) of each new day (v.2); things as small and unnoticed as dew, and others as lively as birds (v.3); and the sun and the evening shade that calibrate our walk here below (v.4). Is that enough to compel belief? Which one in the scope of Alton’s life was the true entrepreneur? God has many names, but when one looks at Alton and what he had to say about Him, other adjectives and names for God come to mind as we examine Alton’s life and how he reflected Him. Perhaps impresario or mogul are how we might characterize Him; how about genius or virtuoso? One of Alton’s eulogists said that he had ‘a pretty good batting average’ in the business things he tried, while having a few that did not work out. But, that’s part of the human experience, isn’t it? Even Christians don’t bat 1.000, though Alton kept swinging.

 

If Alton struck out on a few things, that doesn’t mean he became a doubter. It seems Alton wasn’t necessarily looking at his own achievements and his own efforts to imitate Him as a gauge for his belief. If that had been the barometer, Alton probably would have quit pretty early on in his journey. That’s what we can see if we look at this one extraordinary guy from West Monroe, Louisiana. He must have had a huge reserve of trust in the One whose creation spoke to him so clearly. ‘Try one thing, maybe, and if it doesn’t work out and point to Him or provide for others to see Him better, I’ll try something else’. That sounds like what must have played and replayed in Alton’s mind continually. He’s a God who doesn’t demand perfection, and so I can try again. Fall down? Get back up, and keep looking up. He’s got more in store for you. Others might say you were remarkable, as they reflect on a human life. What’s really remarkable is how He lets us bear His image at all.         

 

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

 

Information on the image is found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Blue_Marble,_AS17-148-22727.jpg … This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)---found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth