A few years ago, my dad asked me to make a collection of “those worship songs” for Christmas. So I did. I’m working on Volume 4 right now, and since that time, I’ve noticed that each volume has a theme. My mom asked me to write about those themes and how the songs I chose for each volume fit in. I probably won’t do a post for every song, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the songs that have spoken Truth into my life, and at times have spoken the words I couldn’t speak on my own…
A Mighty Fortress ~ Christy Nockels
I heard this song for the first time when a friend sang it in church a few weeks after she went to Passion. Have you ever had a song that grabs you from the first time you hear it and won’t let you go? This is that song for me. Besides its beautiful, anthemic melody, it is steeped in truths I so often forget:
- God is my refuge and fortress. My first instinct when faced with a crisis is to run home. I want my parents. I want their comfort, their advice, their prayers. But God doesn’t want me running to them. He wants me to run to Him and seek His comfort, His advice, and rest in the knowledge that He already knows, not only what I should do, but what I’m going to do.
- Where my eyes go, my heart will go. This is something I’ve always been taught, but it’s a good reminder. If my eyes are focused on the things of this world, my heart will be tied to them. This world is full of pain and disappointment. God is comfort and faithfulness. If my eyes are on Him, my heart will not be so caught up in this temporal life that I am crushed by its inevitable hurts. In Him, I am resilient, able to stand strong in the face of anything this world has to offer.
- I have a forever. There are times when it seems that something I’m going through is never going to end. But God’s truth tells me that it will. What won’t end is my life with Him. Yes, there are times when the horrors of this life seem unbearable, but in the end, we know that Jesus wins! The hope we have in Christ is that our forever is secure in Him, and it’s going to be more incredible, amazing, fantastic, and perfect than our minds can ever even begin to imagine!
What does this song mean to you?
