In the first stanza, we see man’s effort to find God. Now, this is a major theme throughout the song and it is the opposite of what we see in the first stanza. Such a beautiful sight it is to see Grace literally descending from the mountain. Only to discover that the source of the river, which in this case is Grace, is at the summit of a mountain. I can almost see a person running along the river banks, searching for its source. The songwriter mentions how long he has chased rivers, “from lowly seas to where they rise / against the rush of Grace descending / from the source of its supply”. The second stanza depicts the scenario of a person looking for God from a distance. If we were told God had graced the other side of the mountain with his presence, we would scale the valley to find him. If we were told God had tabernacled on mountain Afadjato, all our Christian life would be characterized by mountain climbing, – of course, to find God. Promises about how we would pursue him and run after him. These lines are filled with promises man makes to God. So my aim for writing this piece is to justify why Hillsong’s Highlands is my song of ascents. These are the 3 possible scenarios in which songs of ascents were sung by ancient Jews. The songs were sung possibly by Hebrew pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem or while ascending mount Zion or by the Levite singers while ascending the 15 steps of the temple in Jerusalem to minister. I checked what songs of ascents were on Wikipedia and learnt that they are 15 chapters in the book of Psalms, from Psalms 120 – 134. I read Psalms 127 a few weeks ago and the sub-heading of the chapter in the ESV Bible was ‘a song of ascents of Solomon’. I wondered what it meant but I never bothered to research to find out until I chanced on it recently. I have always wondered what the second part of the title of the song meant, ‘song of ascent’. Benjamin Hasting who co-wrote the song is known to always put words together to communicate sound theology in worship songs in the most beautiful way. Because what the song says is comfortingly true and painfully true at the same time. No song has made me shed tears in worship than this one. It is my song because I have needed the ‘encouragement’ in the lyrics, especially this year. From the very first time I heard it, I knew it was going to be stuck on replay for a very long time. Highlands is a deeply personal song to me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |