I’m a visual worshiper. What I mean by that is that as I sing to and about God images form in my mind. The images vary from imagining myself bowing before God in His glory, to visualizing all the wonders God has allowed me to experience, to remembering all the ways He has worked in my life. The song we will look at today brings a different image to mind. More about that later. Let’s talk a little about the song.
Great Are You, Lord is performed by the duo named All Sons and Daughters. The duo consists of Leslie Jordan and David Leonard. Great Are You, Lord, can be found on their self-titled album, All Sons and Daughters. This song became a mainstay in the worship sets of many churches and the heart cry of many followers. The reason this song has been so loved is because it speaks truth while leading people to worship God for who He is and praising Him for what He does.
Let’s dig in.
You give life
God is the giver of life. We first see this in the account of Creation found in Genesis 1-2. After creating a perfect environment, God populates it with organisms He brings to life. From plants to animals and, finally, humans, God makes all and gives each organism life. Throughout the Bible, we are reminded that God gives life. After Ruth and Boaz marry, God gives them a son (Ruth 4:13). Hannah aches for a child and God answers by allowing her to conceive Samuel, and then He blessed her with more children (1 Samuel 1:19-20; 2:21). Jesus declares that He is life (John 14:6) and that He came so that His sheep might have life – abundant life (John 10:10). God gives life.
You are love
The writer of the book of 1 John, says that God is love (1 John 4:8). This statement does not say love is an attribute of God. This is a profound statement for humans; love is not a part of God. God is Love. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul gives us a superb understanding of love. Many Bible teachers have challenged their listeners to substitute God for love in those verses. God is the One who can consistently and perfectly extend each aspect of Paul’s description of love to others. God is Love.
You bring light to the darkness
Along with love, light is a part of God’s essence. 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” The Apostle John tells us that Jesus was the true light (John 1:9). One of the ‘I Am’ statements Jesus makes in the book of John is “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) If you have ever tried to navigate a dark environment and then added light to that environment, you understand that light dispels darkness. This experience in the physical helps us to understand what it means when in the spiritual. God drives out the darkness of sin, shame, doubt, and pain with His love, joy, peace, and kindness.
You give hope
The fact that God’s presence dispels darkness gives us hope. It is called a living hope in 1 Peter 1:3. In the original language, the word used for hope means confident expectation. Unlike in our culture where the word hope is equivalent to wish. It means, “I would like it to happen and there is a possibility that it might happen but I am not confident it will happen.” When Peter used this word he thought, “This will happen, I just don’t know when.” Peter is talking about having confidence in something that will happen in the future. The future event we await with confidence is the promise that Jesus will return and all those who place their faith in Him will be with Him. All that we experience in life, Paul says in Romans 8:18, pales in comparison to when this hope is realized. Paul also reminds us that having confidence (hope) in this will not put us to shame (Romans 5: 5). God gives hope.
You restore every heart that is broken
When we talk about being heartbroken in our culture, we are usually talking about a romantic relationship that did not end well. When we see the word brokenhearted in God’s Word, it generally refers to people who are spiritually lost or helpless. This is what Isaiah was referring to when he wrote,
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”
Isaiah 61:1
You will probably notice a footnote in your Bible on the last part of this passage; “those who are bound.” The footnote brings out that in the original language, this would point to those who are blind or in darkness. This note suggests that the passage is about those who have a spiritual problem that can only be addressed by the Spirit of the Lord God. Every person who is born (except Jesus) is spiritually broken and helpless, separated from God because of the sin of Adam and Eve, and then their own sin. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every lost soul (brokenhearted) can be restored to right relationship with God. Every person who places their trust in Jesus alone will be restored to right relationship with God.
Great are You, Lord.
Not much to say here except, “Yes, and Amen!”
The Chorus
If you ever heard the song performed live by All Sons and Daughters, you may have heard them say, "Worship is when we give God His breath back." as they introduced this song. This is a quote from Louis Giglio in a message he shared just before they sang this for the first time at Passion. Pastor Giglio had taught out of the book of Ezekiel about how God had brought a field of bones back to life and breathed His breath into them (Ezekiel 37:9-10). This is a vivid picture of God’s omnipotence. This quote causes me to envision God giving me breath and me praising Him with that very breath.
Yet, the picture that most often comes to mind when I sing this is of a young woman in the prime of life who attended one of our women’s retreats several years back. She is abandoned in worship; standing, and at times arms raised. The smile on her face highlights her natural beauty. The walker that is nearby to study her when needed is a hint of her health condition. What is not evident as this beautiful woman worships is that just weeks before the doctors informed her, they had done all that they could for her. The cancer that was once in her leg had metastasized to her lungs a few years before. That day, as she stood worshipping while struggling to have enough breath, she knew breath would not be in her body for much longer. Yet, with the breath God gave her, she worshipped Him. Many of the women at this retreat also knew her time with us would not be long, and they watched with bittersweet tears as she sang the chorus of this song.
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise
It’s your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
I spent quite a bit of time with this young lady in her final months, and this chorus was not something she just sang, it is what she lived. Yes, she was confused and had questions. Yes, she was angry at times. Yet, her conversations were saturated with faith. Her faith was expressed in the way she valued and loved each and every person who entered her space
You see, worship in song, this one or another, is meant to bring glory to God and tell of all that He has done. But worship is not meant to be confined to singing songs; it is meant to be lived out – a lifestyle. Worship is supposed to say, “Great are You, Lord! Even when things are not great in my life.” God is great because He is Life and Love and Light. He is great because He can, and does, restore our souls to Himself through the work of Jesus, His Son. Through His Son we have hope – confident that God will fulfill every promise He makes.
“Great are You, Lord, and greatly to be praised.”
Psalm 48:1-2
