Take Heart/ Lyrics

0:00It's Brian again, your lunatic friend, and in this case, I'm a singer-songwriter. Let me say I never set out to make a career out of this. I started writing songs when I was 16 as a matter of exercising my own personal demons. And right now I'm going to talk about the lyrics of the song, and I'm not really sure I can explain very well. In this case, I didn't even start by saying I'm going to write a song about this. Growing up, my parents were in the ministry, and I started out as an only child. At least for the first two years, and it sure seemed like I was always the new kid in the neighborhood. So I carry a significant sense of isolation from the whole human race, most of the time. But I learned two things from my parents early on. First of all, I was barely born when they told me I wasn't going to be able to stay here. The life was short, and in second, get to know Jesus because He promises the life after this. I think the biggest problem with being alone most of your life. I mean, even in a crowd, you start to carry this sense that you're above the law and the rules don't apply to you. The good news is I chose Jesus before I even knew anything about Him. And I imagine to other people He probably looked more like my imaginary friend.

1:02But whether I was speaking to God or speaking to myself while He listened, it became a successful coping mechanism that I would build on, and not always in good ways. Now I didn't base this on Scripture, but I wrote this next song about the foundation of coping with your own life. In Luke chapter 21, there's this one verse, verse 19. In your patience, it says, possess your own soul. And this is right in the middle of a chapter that's talking about the end times and how awful things could get and how ugly people could be. In verse 25, it says, the times will be coming where you'll see signs in the heavens. And on earth, there will be distresses of nations with perplexity. And the next verse says, men's hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. And the verse ends with, for the powers of heaven, she'll be shaken. She sounds like doom scrolling to me, but this sounds like a pretty good foundation for the reasons I wrote a song about how I cope with or without you. So let's just get to it. This song starts with, there's a place only a heart can go.

2:06Where without any words, let your feelings flow. There's a voice only a soul can hear like a cleansing rain falling soft and clear. Now I was imagining two different stories in this next line. First was the Israelites stepping into the water at the parting of the Red Sea. The enemy is behind them and they have to step away from the oppression. But then it also reminds me of the pool of Bethesda and the lame man gets into the water when the waters are troubled in order to be healed. And so I say, come to your troubled waters edge, step in and you'll find me there. And I meant this is more than a feeling. It's a step of faith where the you feel it or not. It's faith to believe that God is there and healing comes with him. And this course has really God and myself speaking at the same time, saying take heart and I'll take your hand. And God adds, be still and be strong. We will reach the promised land and right in the middle of this song.

3:09This is where God pours his blessings through me rather than to me. And I sing take heart as I look at you listening and I sing God knows where we are. He won't let us down. He's brought us too far. Take heart on the second verse starts with where we've been and I sing there's a wound. Jesus alone can touch, but it's so hard to face because it hurts so much. And there's a pain only his cross can bear and our only hope is to leave it there. So come to your troubled waters edge, step in and you'll find me there. You'll find me there. And this time God says to us, take heart and I'll take your hand. Be still and be strong. We will reach the promised land. Take heart. God knows where we are. He won't let us down. He's brought us too far. And in the bridge, I sing all around you, his angels wait.

4:13And though the waves are cold, his wings are great. And I know putting those two images together might be a little confusing, but it's God's angels and his wings that help us walk on the water. So trust he's not going to let you down. He's going to carry us across to higher ground. Come to your troubled waters edge and you'll have your miracle. And here's where we turn the chorus into a mantra to be remembered. Take heart and I'll take your hand. Take heart. We will reach the promised land. God knows where you are. He won't let us down. We will reach the promised land. Sometimes and in this case, we need to repeat, repeat, repeat just to believe and drive out our own doubts. Be still and be strong. We will reach the promised land. And this wraps up another lyrics episode of Jesus of Music on nutshell. Cermans.com. Thanks for sitting on the back row with me.

5:14Next episode will actually play the real song. And I'll let you go where only your heart can go. Mayn't I just be your friend on the back row? Where you're never dismissed? Yeah, where you're never dismissed.