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| The Heart Of Worship |
Date Posted:
2/2/2000
Author:
Matt Redman
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Intimacy
I’ve wanted to get this word into a song for years! Intimacy in worship is such a high value for us at Soul Survivor, that I’d wanted to express it quite blatantly at some point. The chorus was written pretty spontaneously, during a time of worship one day, but the verse took a few different attempts to complete. I hope the song reflects something of the wonder of knowing God closely, and the intense desire to do so. The line ‘My treasure will be/Your intimacy’ was inspired by Paul in Philippians when he says that compared to knowing Christ he considers everything else as ‘rubbish’, or as one translation actually puts it, ‘dog dung’.
Hear the Music of My Heart
Out of all the songs on the album, this one took the longest to complete. I’d started writing it the day before Soul Survivor A last year, but was never completely happy with the lyrics until February this year. It’s basically just an all out worship song, responding to how wonderful Jesus is. The last section of the song is something I’ve wanted to do for a little while – a whole load of the Lord’s names and titles all strung together – He’s the Healer, the Teacher, the Living One, the Lifter of my head, the First and the Last and the Bright and Morning Star, and much more besides.
When I Needed a Savior
I wrote this song in South Africa, after reading the story of Joseph. In Genesis, chapter 41, Joseph names his son
Ephraim and says, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” This phrase really struck
me, and I started to realise that the same is true for many of us. In my own life God has brought many good things
out of periods of suffering, and this song is a testimony to that. I realised that on every page of life, sweet and bitter times, the Lord’s hand of grace has always been evident.
The line ‘When I needed my Father’ was particularly meaningful for me, as I’ve had some amazing fathering of the heavenly kind. I haven’t written many songs that speak about the Father, but I knew from the beginning that this
would be one.
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The story behind Matt Redman’s new album, The Heart of Worship. Read about the insight and inspiration which led to the creation of the songs from Matt’s new recording.
Let Everything that Has Breath
This opening track was written last summer during the New Wine and Soul Survivor B conferences, inspired by Psalm 148 and Psalm 150. The chorus lyric is ‘nicked’ from the very last verse of the Psalms. One thing I like about the Bible is you can steal lyrics, and instead of being accused of plagiarism you actually get encouraged for it! I wanted the lyrics of this song to go some way to expressing the same sentiment these two Psalms do - that God deserves praise from every living creature, in heaven and on earth.
The second section of the track was a spontaneous moment in the studio. Just as we had finished a take of the song, Terl Bryant, the drummer, kept on playing and the rest of us joined in and worshipped with him. It felt like we captured a special moment of heartfelt worship. Another special touch for me is the Zulu choir who is singing on this song. During our last couple of visits to South Africa we’ve developed a friendship with these guys, so it was a real honour to have them involved with the recording.
One Thing Remains
This song is meant to be another reflection of God’s worth, and tries to express the fact that God is worthy at all times and in every situation. His worth never changes or fades, so it will always be a fitting thing to worship him – even though ‘Troubles may come/Hardship and pain’ and ‘When I am weak/When I am frail’.
During the recording I started to suffer from tendonitus, which at times was very painful. The lyrics, which I had
written six months earlier, really started to challenge me in a new way. Even though I was in agony and couldn’t see the way ahead with my arm situation, would I still choose to bring God the praise he deserves? It’s a good thing when God allows the integrity of your lyrics to be tested!
What I Have Vowed
I wrote most of this song during the Harvest Conference in Bishop Auckland last summer, deciding to play my guitar at the B&B before heading off to site. It was one of those times when a big chunk of the song flows out all at once. I had in fact jotted down the chorus line, ‘What I have vowed I will make good’, taken from the book of Jonah, after he finally agrees to go to Ninevah, about a year before I ended up writing the song. While I was writing it, our drummer, Steve, was on the phone to his 7 year old son, who enquired “What’s that noise, Daddy?” Steve replied, “Benjamin, that’s Matt writing a song.” Benjamin then delivered the ultimate insult: “It doesn’t sound much like a song, Daddy.” I needed months of ministry for that one...
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