In this series, I explore some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy π.
Select the arrow for my “general intro” (which I’m reusing for all the modern hymns that I explore)
I grew up with rock music, so it’s not such a shocking thing for me to explore these. Back in my earlier years as a Christian, we had the old hymns and some modern choruses that originated in the 1970s charismatic movement. As time went on, I started to prefer the older hymns.
Nowadays, I try to maintain an interest in all Christian music. It’s easy to find “trendy” Christian music annoying, even as a Christian π. I don’t know why. But I’m trying to overcome that prejudice. Perhaps the older hymns give us a sense of history, but many of these would have been similar to popular music of their day. So maybe people cringed when they first heard some of these too π.
Anyway, today’s hymn is Lord I Need You. It’s from 2013.
The song is said to be inspired by two Scripture verses:
Matthew 11:28β30
28 βCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.β
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then approach Godβs throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
I find that it’s much easier to pray if you begin with a Scripture verse or a hymn. And this hymn is particularly effective in this respect. It expresses deep affection and dependence on God.
It reminds me of a traditional hymn that we used to sing in church in my younger years. In fact the new one uses a similar line in the chorus:
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour, I need You
It would be interesting if you had some indicator on your watch or phone that recorded how often you thought about God during the day, or reached out to him. Many things can help, such as daily Bible readings and setting routines for prayer. But the authors of the hymn have plainly formed the habit of leaning on God. Whatever troubling thought hits us, we immediately reach out to God and bring it before him. Whether he immediately solves our problem isn’t all important. He might have a purpose in challenging us with difficult days. But even if your faith is as small as a mustard seed, it’s such a natural thing to reach out to God. Potentially, you could move any mountain, but that depends on how much your prayers are aligned to God’s will.
I grew up a Roman Catholic. I moved to an evangelical church when I was 18. One thing that I admire about Roman Catholic churches is the fact that they are happy to sing Protestant hymns. Sometimes it surprises me when I see modern evangelical songs sung in Roman Catholic settings.
On 27th July 2013, Pope Francis prayed along with almost three million youngsters from across the world during the Rio 2013 World Youth Day Vigil. Here’s Matt Maher singing the song at the event. But he’s actually a Roman Catholic, so maybe it’s not such a surprise.
The lyrics seem utterly evangelical anyway. The hymn is directed to God. I don’t think I’d be happy if it were directed to Saint Christopher, Saint Philomena or Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins π – or any saints that did actually exist.
Anyway, here are some other interesting versions of the song:
Hibernia Gospel 