I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.
Today’s song is Let It Rain from 2001.
I’ve only heard this one once in church. Maybe it’s not popular in Ireland because we get a lot of rain. Someone should write a hymn called “Make it stop” 😀. But, of course, it’s a metaphor. There are regions in the world that long for rain and desperately need rain. And even here in Ireland, farmers sometimes yearn for more rain while the rest of us are delighting in the sun.
Rain is often used as a metaphor for blessing. I can think of an older hymn that we used to sing back in the 1980s – Showers of Blessing. It’s a prayer for revival – a huge outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
Today’s song isn’t specifically about revival. It’s more about longing for God’s presence, using weather as a metaphor:
I feel the rains of Your love
Feel the winds of Your spirit
Now the heartbeat of Heaven
Let us hear
Let it rain, let it rain
Open the floodgates of Heave
It’s quite a simple, repetitious song. In my younger days, I remember reading reviews in rock periodicals such as the New Musical Express and Melody Maker. These were reviews of secular songs and artists, and they almost always found fault with them. And I developed a habit of always assessing everything, even hymns.
But nowadays, I just try to enjoy them all. It’s true that some are theologically richer or more detailed than others. But I just love feeling a sense of God’s presence. That can even happen with instrumental versions of hymns.
Some emphasize the importance of expressing truth in worship, but if you already believe the truth, you don’t need to spell it all out in detail every time you sing. Still, hymns can be useful for expressing truth. Sometimes lyrics of hymns bring me comfort or they might challenge me when I just happen to spontaneously remember them. Maybe the Holy Spirit is reminding me of them.
And this one can do just that because it encourages me to look to God in a nation that frequently attempts to put God out of the picture.
Here are some other performances of today’s song:
Hibernia Gospel 