Tamela Mann ~ Take Me to the King
Kirk Franklin’s trademark cool is stamped into the production of this very vulnerable and open admission of sorrow and pain for, yes, even a believer and Christ-follower. It is the kind of openness we don’t really allow each other, but have to admit we have indulged in privately before God. Sometimes we are just “all churched out.” Or “good-works-ed out,” or “all ministry-ed out,” or whatever else we have given ourselves to that, in spite of maybe being a really good cause, or even something that was originally being done “for the Lord,” for His glory – became an idol or something that by its very girth and volume in our lives just separated us from our First lLove.
Then comes the song in the night, the song of sorrow. It is a melody stripped of impressive words or simple, singable congregational hooks. But it is the wrenching, the language of pain, real, authentic and not easily revealed.
This is one of those songs, in, actually, a beautiful melody, deep and soulful. When there is nothing left in you to even bring to the King, yet you know His Presence is the only place left safe to dwell – well, you want to go there. Stumbling, wounded, crippled from battle, tired from the fight, you summon all courage to get where you need to be…
Tamela communicates it well. You feel the fatigue, the “why?,” the “what now?” in the beginning of the song. Resolve begins to build {is that hope, I feel?} Finally, that last surge of strength for all that really ever mattered anyway ~ we know where to go, where to be – we just have to get to the King. Alone at the throne, gazing on His glory!
Wow!
Whitney Houston – I Look to You
As I lay me down,
Heaven hear me now.
I’m lost without a cause
After giving it my all.
Winter storms have come
And darkened my sun.
After all that I’ve been through
Who on earth can I turn to?
I look to you. I look to you.
After all my strength is gone,
In you I can be strong
I look to you. I look to you.
And when melodies are gone,
In you I hear a song.
I look to you.
This song is the title track from Whitney’s final studio album released in 2009, and it has become my favorite Whitney Houston song ever.
It is a heart’s cry, a prayer, an understanding of all that has been lost, a revelation of all that remains and a resignation that when all our hope or melodies are gone, we can run back to the waiting One who will meet us on the road with arms open wide.
Reminds me of a quote I first heard 30 some years ago: When we come to the place where Christ is all we have, then we know, He is all we need.
About to lose my breathe,
There’s no more fighting left,
Sinking to rise no more,
Searching for that open door.
And every road that I’ve taken
Lead to my regret.
And I don’t know if I’m going to make it.
Nothing to do but lift my head
“After all my strength is gone…I look to You.”
God is probably saying, “Finally!” :)
NOTE TO SELF: Don’t be afraid to sing in the night. Psalm 77
