A Hunger Deep Inside My Soul

Both on and off the blog, I get comments from people who remember particular songs and are able to find them here. Especially a couple of the older songs from the three different Psalms Alive CDs Maranatha Music produced many years ago. 

We often underestimate the power of song.  Psalm 84 has been the source of many worship songs.  We can think of a few, but imagine the themes of scripture expressed musically over the past 2,000 years; the songs that were lost over the ages, and the songs that were written for use in one local church setting that were never heard beyond that church’s walls.  Here’s “How Love is Your Dwelling Place” from Psalms Alive (Maranatha Music).

The hunger deep inside the Psalmist’s soul for God’s word, God’s law and statutes, and being in God’s temple is a recurring theme throughout the Psalms. When you read the text of the Psalm you’ll also recognize a popular worship chorus from our own generation in verse 10 (and if you grew up Pentecostal or Charismatic, one from your parent’s generation in verse 11). It’s interesting that the writer’s desire to be in God’s presence is twice expressed in language that could refer to a tabernacle or building, and how that contrasts with our world today where we see declining church attendance and even church closures.

Psalm 84

New International Version (NIV)

    For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

 ¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
   LORD Almighty!
² My soul yearns, even faints,
   for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
   for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
   LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
   they are ever praising you.

 ⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
   whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
   they make it a place of springs;
   the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
⁷ They go from strength to strength,
   till each appears before God in Zion.

 ⁸ Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty;
   listen to me, God of Jacob.
⁹ Look on our shield, O God;
   look with favor on your anointed one.

 ¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts
   than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
   from those whose walk is blameless.

 ¹² LORD Almighty,
   blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Here’s a version of Better is One Day by the group Petra:

Do we regard the presence of God with the same passion?  Can we say with verse 10 that in terms of the things of this world, the presence of God in ratio to the things of this world rates at better than 1,000:1 ?

To Every Generation

This song from the Psalms Alive project, by Bill Batstone, is based on Psalm 90:

^NIV1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
² Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
⁴ A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
⁵ Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
⁶ In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.

⁷ We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
⁹ All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
¹² Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³ Relent, LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
¹⁶ May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.

¹⁷ May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

Worship Classic: Psalm Five

There are a number of versions online of a later Maranatha! Music recording of this song, but I have always felt nothing is as raw and heartfelt as this particular version.

Give ear to my words, O Lord
Consider my mediation
Hearken onto the voice of my cry
My King and my God

For unto Thee will I pray
My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning
O Lord, in the morning
Will I direct my prayer
Onto Thee and will look up.

Here are some other notes about the song from the description and comments in a different YouTube video of it (no longer available):

The way I heard it Big Bill was asleep and woke with a melody to King David’s words in Psalm 5. A week or two later Bill went to heaven after a massive heart attack. He never got to hear this final recording. Thank you Big Bill and David and God that we have been given this beautiful melody from a dream.

A week later, the rest of the band (The Road Home) and various backing singers from the Calvary Chapel/Maranatha music community, gathered in the studio and completed the recording, which was first released on the Album “Maranatha 5” .

 

I Waited Patiently For the Lord

One of the most popular posts at Thinking Out Loud — a blog which doesn’t actually embed video — is a reference to a worship song from the Psalms Alive project, titled He Will Not Let Me Fall.   To see that video, scroll the comments section of this post.    It’s also here at C201, but you’d miss the various comments ; it’s amazing the number of people who have been strengthened and encouraged by that song.

So I thought we’d include another Psalms Alive song here, one that offers a similar message of hope and faith; this one adapted from Psalm 40:

 

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

I pray that you and I have a sense of the Lord hearing our cry and moving us from fear into security.

I waited for the Lord on high
I waited and He heard my cry

He pulled me out of my despair
He showed me where to walk
From fear into security
From quicksand to a rock

There’s a new song in my heart to sing
A new song praises to my King

I’ll sing to let the people know
That I have been restored
And they will kneel and understand
To return and trust in the Lord

by Bill Batstone © 1982 Maranatha Praise, Inc. (Admin. by Maranatha! Music)

He Will Not Let You Fall

I had the weirdest experience last night.

I was driving through some rather remote roads late at night to pick up my youngest son from a youth event at a Christian camp. All the time I was thinking of a really old Psalms Alive song, “He Will Not Let You Fall.”

So I went on YouTube just for fun to see if someone had posted the audio, and there it was. I started listening only to notice I was only the second person to ever view it. Hmmm. That’s odd.

I glanced down at the post date: April 30, 2010.

Timing is everything. Kinda fits the song, doesn’t it?

I look up to the mountains
To the hills I turn my eyes
Who will come to help me?
Can I find a place to hide?

The one who made the heavens
And the earth will hear my call
The Lord will come to help me
And He will not let me fall