Just celebrate. Or, with emphasis on a biblical word – Hallelujah! That was evidently what Reuben Morgan and the other members of the Hillsong Church were telling the worshippers to do in 2004 at that year’s conference at this Australian church in Sydney. (See the Hillsong Convention Center here.) And why? The reasons were clear in the few words they sang, summed up by saying “For All You’ve Done”, ‘we praise you and celebrate you, God’. It was a direct address to the One who made it all possible. He came, died, and rose again, with a great purpose to take everyone with Him to safety. It doesn’t take a lot more explanation than that, though all that He did and will do for believers is packed with meaning. The elemental nature of these few thoughts that Reuben wanted to convey was such that it couldn’t be contained in just one song, and perhaps why it was also the title song for that year’s album of 15 songs. How many more songs could also be tied to this idea, that He’s to be thanked for all He’s done? ‘Just keep writing them’, someone says to the songwriters!
No other details about the song or the album ‘For All You’ve Done’ are known, but it must have been a weighty discussion between Reuben and the other worship leaders (like Darlene Zshech) at Hillsong that led to 2004’s album by the same name. Fourteen other songs were recorded for that live album, and just seeing the titles of those songs tells one that they build upon the praise and celebration that ‘For All…’ begins. Perhaps you, like me, have never thought of being in a ‘miry clay’, but that’s how Reuben thought of his condition in his first verse’s lyrics. The rest of the song flows from the sense of being rescued by the One Reuben calls ‘Savior’, ‘Redeemer’, and ‘Almighty’ in the opening lines. Reuben felt transformed, and coaxed the rest of those hearing and singing --’the world’ -- ‘to ‘live again’. He came from the ‘everlasting’ to the ‘world we live (in)’ of His own choice, and we may never truly grasp why, except to say that He wants us and that we live more fully in the praise He inspires. His praise helps the emotionally downtrodden overcome. If you attended the live worship at which this album was recorded, you could probably testify to this, but it doesn’t take much imagination to say that the opening song spurred those present forward to worship with the following 14 melodies and lyrics that mingled to lift God’s name in a variety of ways. ‘Hallelujah’ offers Reuben, especially that ‘(He) lived…died…and rose again on high’, and then says something metaphorically: a door (Jesus) has ‘opened the way’ to a new existence. Those who join in the song that Reuben wrote can think about being saved, and of going to spend eternity in His presence. But, believers – like those who attended the Hillsong conference in 2004 -- can also get a bit of foretaste by joining in the ‘Hallelujah’ that we get to say now, by being assured that His promises are certain, and doing our celebrating with a crowd to imitate how it will be on the everlasting day. Doing it with others is great!
Many songs and hymns for centuries have vocalized the same thoughts as ‘For All…’, so what’s so different in Reuben Morgan’s version of the gospel? It’s really just another flavor of the same message, like a different spice added to food that creates a new taste experience. It may strike even just one or a few people in a novel, startling way, but that just says every song written for Him is noteworthy. After all, if all of the songs were the same, why would we want to sing them? Have you ever felt like you’re in a ‘miry clay’, as Reuben describes it? Maybe it’s felt like quicksand, or an unscalable mountain, or a prison for you. Evidently for Reuben, the metaphor of a miry clay meant he felt nearly immobilized, with a muck that stuck to him no matter how often he washed. Once Reuben got rid of that, the rest of his song is about God, and what He’s done. He’ll lift you out of that sloppy stuff. Just pay attention to Him, Reuben seems to say.
Read here about the author-composer: Reuben Morgan - Wikipedia
See here for information on the song and the album on which it appears: For All You've Done - Wikipedia
See Hillsong Convention Centre image information here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hillsong_Convention_Centre.jpg 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.
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