Only 5 days to go! Today’s song is “So Will I” from the Hillsong United Album ‘Wonder’. I am so excited that we will be singing this at Dare, not only because it is an absolutely beautiful song, but also because it is a really precious song to me personally at the moment.
It is a song that has comforted me through what has been the most difficult season in my life so far, through a period of immense pain and suffering in my own life, and has been a reminder to me of the immense strength that is to be found in standing firm on the truth of God’s word in these times (for more info see my previous blog Perseverance in the Pain: My Story).
Have you ever wondered what your purpose is? Have you ever wondered why you are here and what you were created for?
This is a truly beautiful song that speaks to that very question – we were designed, as was the whole of creation, for the glory of the creator (Isaiah 43:7). In other words, our entire purpose is to worship God!
“All the earth worships you and sings praises to your name” (Psalm 66:4)
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
He’s the God of creation, the one who spoke everything into existence, and through whom all things are sustained (Nehemiah 9:6). Everything in the universe, including us, was created to worship him.
He’s the God who keeps his promises (2 Corinthians 1:20), who speaks and even nature obeys him (Mark 4:41). It all reveals his nature. And so should we.
Jesus reiterated our purpose to worship when asked what the greatest commandment was – he responded to love God with everything we have (Matthew 22:37). Worship is a declaration of love and submission – it is our response to all that God is and all that he has done for us.
I realised that for so many years I had been singing words like those of this song without really and truly understanding the gravity of what they meant. It’s not a case of we should, but that we need to worship God in every season, in every circumstance. God isn’t here to serve us, we were created to serve Him! We are here to honour Him!
We don’t deserve His help. But He does deserve our praise!
And yet, despite being such an awesome God, he still desires to know us personally. He still cares about us individually and longs for us to know him.
He’s the God of salvation who, despite all our disobedience, failures and pride, despite our determination to do things our own way, set about planning our rescue – he came to earth to pay the price for our sin, in order that our relationship could be restored.
“On a hill you created, the light of the world [Jesus], abandoned in darkness to die.” – So Will I, Hillsong United
And as he did, all our failures, the pain caused by our bad decisions, the hurt caused by our actions and negligence, were washed away.
He lost his life so that we could find ours.
He surrendered his life so that ours could be saved.
What measure could describe the amount of love he has for us? Nothing that we can comprehend. The only worthy response that we can give is a life lived in surrender to him. A life lived in worship to him.
Yet, at the end of the song, we are reminded that there is more to our purpose than just loving God. The second part of the response Jesus gave in Matthew 22 was to love our neighbour as our self.
“If You gave Your life to love them so will I…You’re the One who never leaves the one behind” – So Will I, Hillsong United
Jesus gave his life to love others. He’s the one who is constantly pursuing those who don’t yet know him. He’s the one who leaves the 99 sheep in search of the one that is lost. And as one of the 99 safely with Jesus, we are now the hands and feet here on earth that help him to bring the other lost sheep home.
Jesus gladly chose surrender for the sake of others (Hebrews 12:2) and so must we. When we remember the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us, the pain that he went through, the suffering that he experienced to give us assurance of life, our response must be to live a life in worship to him and service to others.
You are an awesome, incredible, powerful, wonderful God and I long to worship you with all that I am.
Thank you for the incredible sacrifice that you made so that I can live an abundant life in relationship with my creator.
Help me to love you by sacrificing myself to serve your people, those you came to save but still do not know you.
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