Be Exalted O God -- Brent Chambers

 

Can you put yourself in this composer’s shoes, when examining the lyrics he wrote? Perhaps Brent Chambers’ mind could imagine the God who is way above all creation, and seeing things from His perspective as He looked down on the people and the world He created (as the photo here depicts, showing Napier and southern Hawke Bay on the North Island of New Zealand where Brent was born and may have been in 1977 when the song was conceived.) The setting where his words gestated had provided a spark, making Brent ponder the unity of his and others’ humanity. We might all come from different backgrounds, skin colors, experiences, habits, and beliefs, but are all those differences really that significant? Brent must have concluded that the fellow-man principle, and the Creator’s hand on himself and all the others in his vicinity one evening spoke the only reply he needed.

 

‘…great to the heavens’, and ‘…to the clouds’ – those were some of the words that emerged from Brent’s spirit as he reflected on his time one evening when he witnessed an ethnic music and dance event. That Brent composed a song in the wake of this experience suggests he had had a good time, perhaps reacquainting himself with a culture with which he was already somewhat familiar, or on the other hand maybe seeing it in a way that was new. Was it some of the Maori or Moriori ethnic dances and music that Brent saw that evening, something with a Polynesian flavor? Was it a group of Pakeha -- a mix of New Zealand and European culture -- that captured Brent’s attention? Something rich and meaningful evidently struck a chord in Brent’s spirit, and he might even have looked heavenward as he considered how such a group had come to inhabit the area. “Among the nations…’, Brent wrote, as he thought about and looked upon the people living in the same island nation where he’d grown up. This 29-year-old New Zealander would eventually write hundreds of songs, but that night Brent apparently turned to an ancient songbook – the Psalms – to borrow some others’ thoughts. Psalms 22 (v.3), 52 (v.9), and 145 (v.7) were potentially the origin of what Brent would write, as he thought about exalting God among other humans that He created, to celebrate His goodness and acknowledge His holy presence – His ‘glory…over all the earth’ (2^nd verse of the song). It was a message about togetherness in diversity, and being under the same umbrella of Godly influence, that flowed from Brent’s pen and out through the music that accompanied the words. We can all address God personally, because we’re all equally His image-bearers and live in a place that He alone created for us.  

 

Brent’s experience coaxes a certain attitude. It incorporates humility and understanding of each other here on planet Earth, because of Him who made us. Brent says God is ‘steadfast’ and ‘faithful’, worthy to be praised among the nations, without apparent favoritism for one nation over another. ‘All the earth’, Brent reminds us as he thought of God’s presence, so think about that the next time you grouse about not being able to understand someone else’s tongue, or maybe an accent that you have to decipher just to achieve communication with another person. He can help us all come together. No separation will hold sway when we gather in eternity, so it’s a good idea to get used to our commonalities, about sharing the same space. The heavens, the clouds, and the terra firma (earth) that we all live on are His. I do find myself having to ask sometimes, ‘Do I really believe that it’s all His’?       

 

See the song’s story at this link: Be Exalted, O God | Hymnary.org

 

Read here about the rich culture of New Zealand: Culture of New Zealand - Wikipedia 

 

See information on the photo here: File:Napier06.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …This image is in the public domain because it is a screenshot from NASA’s globe software World Wind using a public domain layer, such as Blue Marble, MODIS, Landsat, SRTM, USGS or GLOBE.

At the Cross -- Reuben Morgan and Darlene Zschech

It was months before the 2006 Hillsong Conference in Sydney, Australia (see a picture of the Hillsong church’s convention center here), and Reuben Morgan and Darlene Zschech were deeply engaged in music-making for the upcoming live album that would commemorate that time. It’s not hard to guess what they were thinking, as the various titles of some of the songs and especially the title song of the album provide a window into that time. “At the Cross” was their joint idea, part of the album’s “Mighty to Save” message that Reuben and Darlene wanted to convey to Christian celebrants that year. His saving act is an historically pivotal moment for all of earth’s inhabitants – in the past, the present, and the future – so it’s impossible to exaggerate its significance, as well as God’s authority as Creator and Savior. He’s the holy and sovereign ruler of all, and yet Reuben and Darlene were also acknowledging Him in a very personal way, too. He died His death for me. That’s what these two songwriters wanted to say.

 

Perhaps it was the idea of Easter that first captured the imaginations of Reuben and Darlene, and how meaningful that was to each of them. In fact, the two have not shared what precisely motivated their lyrics and notes, but perhaps they’ve already said enough through the song. They wanted what He has done for the believer to be very personal, as one can see in their abundant use of the pronouns ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’ – some 38 times throughout the verses and chorus. I can know Him, and He certainly knows all about me – He's ‘searched me’ (v.1), is ‘surrounding me’ (v.2), and as Darlene and Reuben say repeatedly, He ‘love(s) me’. He ‘go(es) before me’, ‘shield(s) me, and ‘uphold(s) me’ (v.3), and this songwriting duo makes it clear how He accomplishes this. ‘At the cross’, ‘blood…shed’, and ‘overcom(ing) the grave’ in the song’s chorus make the Easter connection unmistakable, but to underscore their message even further, they capture the image of Christ’s sacrificial act initiating the ‘tor(n) veil’ that opened ‘the way’ for us who are not Jewish priests to enter the Most Holy Place. It was His day when He died, but He didn’t forget us when He ripped apart that temple curtain separating us from our heavenly father. To say that event was  radical is a theological mouthful, for this idea that man could not approach or even look upon God had been His regulation since at least the days of Jacob, when he spent the night wrestling with Him (see Genesis 32:30) and yet ‘was spared’ at Peniel – almost 2,000 years before Jesus’ crucifixion. He still has a ‘holy presence’ (v.2) that should awe me, but He will also ‘stand before me’ (v.4) in eternity, as Reuben and Darlene remind me. I can regard Him with astonishment and love, all at the same time.

 

It's also clear that Reuben and Darlene expected the picture of the sacrificing God at the cross would be transformative. How could anyone look upon someone dying in such a way and not be affected? Some of us may still feel that God is distant and far-removed from what goes on in daily life here on planet Earth, but these songwriters ask you and me to not forget the bit of history that Jesus was remaking on that day. He ‘tore the veil’, and ‘made a way’ that wasn’t there before. The veil and the separation it created had been the norm for thousands of years. Imagine something so true, seemingly forever, and then it is eliminated. It’s a comparatively weak analogy, but remember when the Berlin Wall was breached (1989), and the utter jubilation that residents there felt that day? Remember the goosebumps, as you saw it on the TV screens? (Check out the video link below.) Watch, and multiply that – how many X times? – to get what Jesus did.

 

Information about one of the composer-authors: Darlene Zschech - Wikipedia

Information about one of the composer-authors: Reuben Morgan - Wikipedia

A link to the information about the album on which the song first appeared: Mighty to Save (Hillsong album) - Wikipedia

 

See a stirring video of the day the Berlin Wall fell here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRPP2WXX0U

 

See Hillsong Convention Centre image information here: File:Hillsong Convention Centre.jpg - Wikimedia Commons.  This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Tatie2189. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Tatie2189 grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

 

O Lord, You're Beautiful -- Keith Green

 

It was a prayer in the middle of a sleepless night, and the result of this episode was one that Keith Green wasn’t afraid to share. (This most likely took place in Garden Valley TX [Smith County], where the Greens’ [Keith and Melody] Last Days Ministries was located in 1980.) He’d said “Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful”, and yet that compliment to God was not the entirety of what he had to say in this prayer. Keith also confessed some things, admitting that there were gaps in his devotion to the One who created and saved him. Adoration, and confession, and finally supplication were also present in Keith’s approach, so apparently he had three of the four letters in the ACTS acronym that so many believers have used to help organize and guide their thoughts to Him. What about thanksgiving, the ‘T’ part? Did Keith fail at prayer because this part seems to be absent from what he wrote, or are we just overlooking that part, somehow? Perhaps the ‘T’ part is the music-making with which Keith responded, taking a page from the psalmists: I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving (Psalm 69:30); Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song (Psalm 95:2). Giving back a song to Him who gave it – thanksgiving can indeed be reciprocal with this One we worship.

 

So, what exactly was keeping 27-year-old Keith Green up on a Monday night, a struggle that he had with something that would not allow him to rest? You can listen for yourself, by clicking on the youtube link below, or alternately read here a brief transcription (more or less) of what he says in the first minute of a performance of ‘Oh Lord…’. He says his prayer, beginning about midnight, was like a letter to the Lord. He didn’t know where to mail it, so he put it in his bible instead. And what was in this letter? He asked God to do something about his heart, because a lot of time had passed since he had met the Lord, and his heart was beginning to harden. This condition was becoming too natural, and Keith wanted to have ‘baby skin’ again, on his heart. He could already feel the inevitable advance of age, that he was getting old and wrinkled, with a callousness that had formed. He wasn’t really doing anything wrong, but he was more distressed because of the things he wasn’t doing. So, he stayed up until about 2:00 AM writing the song. The words he wrote in that two-hour span show he felt ‘tired’ (v.2); that his ‘faith (was) small’ (v.3), and that he’d ignored God’s ‘book of books’, and ‘prayer’ (v.3); and that he needed his ‘fire’ to be re-lit (v.4). He repeats in a chorus that he aspired to sharing God’s word, but that he needed ‘first…to just live it’.

 

We could gather from what Keith wrote, as the title words for this song-prayer indicate, that he had discovered God was with him. Keith might have sounded like a faith-struggler, but that did not seem to have diminished his view or desire to reacquaint himself with the God he knew was listening to him. Perhaps Keith had, during the first few moments when he first knew Him, saved this sensation, like keeping a special secret in a bottle. In 1980, it sounds as if Keith remembered this and had called from inside his own spirit for a renewal – like uncorking the bottle and letting the genie-God out to reform his spirit again. Keith’s life journey had not been smooth – from belief and musical success in his early youth, then to drugs and eastern mysticism as a teenager, and finally returning to Christ in the early 1970s – so one can really appreciate Keith’s expression of what he saw. He’d lived on the ‘other side’, one might say, so could that have magnified his gratitude for the God he could re-envision in 1980? Keith tragically died in 1982 in a plane crash with 11 others, two years after he wrote ‘O Lord…’. What might he say to you and me today? He might not recommend for you and me this circuitous route to God that he traveled, but Keith might respond that he was just a little bit like Jacob – a wrestler with God (Genesis 32:22-32). How about you…are you wrestling with Him?

 

 

Hear the author-composer tell the song’s story here, in the first minute of the song’s performance: Keith Green - Oh, Lord You're Beautiful (Live) (youtube.com)

 

Read about the author-composer here: Keith Green - Wikipedia

 

See information here about the map of Texas highlighting Smith County: File:Map of Texas highlighting Smith County.svg - Wikimedia Commons…the copyright holder of the image has stated the following: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so:I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.