"Strengthen the Feeble Hands, Steady the Knees That Give Way."
Archive for January, 2006
Kum Ba Ya
Jan 20th
I heard a popular preacher teaching that certain songs were appropriate for worship and certain songs were not. I agreed in theory, but I could not agree with the songs he chose to exclude. He regarded songs such as “Soon and Very Soon”, or, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, or “Kum Ba Ya”, as inappropriate. He spoke of them as “lite”—campfire songs. It shows his ignorance and insensitivity. It could show that he has not lived enough and suffered enough for these songs to have meaning to him. But I doubt that this is true.
I give him the last bit of credit because so many others suffer the same ignorance. Kum Ba Ya has a place on the lips of anyone who has ever suffered or found themselves in need of God’s grace. It has deep meaning to anyone who has a need of God’s loving care. It is not a lite song but one ladened with sorrow and longing. It was not written around or for a campfire, but in the cotton fields by slaves who fostered hope of deliverance. Kum Ba Ya means Come by here. It is a cry, not a song; a prayer of one in desperate More >
He’s Got the Whole World
Jan 11th
I remember being so much younger and singing with vigor the children’s song “He’s God the Whole World In His Hands.” I was convinced that it was true and believed in a big God who knew all and was powerful enough to take care of me come what may. I remember—as though it were yesterday—needing to believe that my meager efforts did not alone decide my fate. It was the greatest of comforts then, to believe that no matter how dark things might become there would always be a dawn. I was comforted then to know He held the whole world in His hands—and it comforts me now.
He’s got the whole world in His mighty, loving hands. He’s got you and me brother, you and me sister in His hands. He’s got the winds and the rains in His hands. He’s got the sun and the moon, the land and the sea, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, and so surely, surely He’s got you and me in His hands. We can call this providence, sovereignty or omnipotence but the Bible calls it love. He cups His hands and the storms outside slip through as a More >
