This simple song ministers to me constantly and is one of the key reasons we landed at Hope Fellowship in Anderson, SC. The first verse seems to refer to John 21:25 where John suggests that there is no way to write down everything that Jesus did or said, “I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” More than just words, John is telling us that the world “could not contain Your holiness.” Yet somehow, Jesus made a way–after all, that’s why he came.
In the second verse we are reminded that we have been saved through the blood of Christ, e.g., Ephesians 1:7 (and many other scriptures). To better understand this we need to take in the entire Bible. When I first typed that sentence, I started with “to fully understand…” but I corrected myself quickly — I don’t believe we will fully understand how the blood of Christ renews our lives. Like many things in this world, I don’t need to fully understand to have complete faith. Thank goodness for that!
Knowing this allows my heart to be on fire with the Holy Spirit (second part of verse 2). We stand in awe and wonder, amazed at your goodness.
The Bridge
This is the pivotal part of the song that grabbed my heart:
Hear our cries Lord
come shake these walls
oh and rattle the steeples
Lord we are Your people
Shake these walls Lord–wake up Your church! Shake these walls Lord and rattle the steeples. Make us uncomfortable Lord, so uncomfortable that we are compelled to act, to do something in this world and not just get by with a Sunday dose of music and Bible lesson. Shake me and rattle me until I move!
For as long as God allows, I get to work in and with organizations that support planting churches all over the place. The need is great, the vision beyond what we can see, but we know we need to reach those who don’t even know they are lost. In many cases, we recognize we need to shake up the frozen chosen and get out into the world as we were commanded.
We are Your people Lord. You have called us by name, but we are not the focus of this song nor of your saving grace. The focus is on You. The song is most powerful when we sing with full voice in amazing inspired harmonies:
All glory
all honor
all praise to You
Amen.
1 All Praise to You,Leslie Jordan and David Leonard,Integrity’s Allelia! Music, 2001
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.