Mighty Is He
Wow, friends! It has been 6 months since I’ve been able to post! I was having a friend (none other than the infamous Lauren Schwaar who plays piano for this song!) rebuild my website. I was also in the midst of finishing this second album and trying to get it out to you all!! This is the last song I hadn’t written a blog post about.
This is because it is this song was rewritten only a month before I took it to Nashville! I wrote this song originally in high school. I was given a verse calendar by a friend, and one day the verses were Psalm 93:3-4 “The seas have lifted up, Oh Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice, the seas have lifted up their roaring waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty.” I looked up the Psalm and it was only 5 verses long, so as a junior in high school, I wrote a song! It was mediocre in melody for the verses, but the chorus was pretty neat and echoed vs. 4 of the Psalm.
Then, I realized I really wanted a Psalm song to go on the new album. I am saving quite a bit of my Psalm songs for a potentially future album, but this one just felt like it should go – but it really wasn’t a strong song.
At the beginning of this BSF year (Bible Study Fellowship), my teaching leader Vicki gave a doctrine talk about God’s Sovereignty and Kingship over all creation, and as we were reading Genesis 1 also read Psalm 93. In this midst of her talk, all I could hear in my mind was a new verse to this song: “The Lord is king, he reigns: even at the beginning his Spirit rested on the waves…” and the hope was born in me that this song COULD make the new album. What a fun time it was to dwell on all the ways God has controlled the chaos of the waters from creation until now.
I then needed a new bridge as well once the new song structure started to take shape. Praise to God after all the reflections on how he controls the water, the song just COMES ALIVE! It begins with his control over the waters at creation as he calms chaos and calls order into being. Then, it heads into how he controlled the waters for His people, a symbol that He watches over those who fear Him and seek His face. And then it brings it full circle to Jesus, who calms the storm, and also calms the storms that rage within us. And, as a good friend once told me, all Psalms find their culmination in Jesus! And is this not so true? From the Lordship he displayed over creation, to His Sovereignty over all things, to the ways He physically controlled water while He was fully man and fully God here on the earth: He is the fulfillment of this Psalm!!!!
And this Psalm turned into a wonderful jam session with my good friend Lauren, and a student of mine, who, 17 at the time, was the same age I was when I originally wrote the chorus. She is a senior, headed to U of I in the fall, and does some radically awesome background vocals. I hope you enjoy it! As I write this blog post, you’ll be able to hear the song in 6 short days 🙂
Mighty Is He
The Lord is King; he reigns/Even at the beginning His Spirit rested on the waves/Oh the strength and majesty/ That are His to tame the waters now and in every age
The seas have lifted up/They’ve lifted up their voices/The pounding surf it calls/Out from the shore
Mighty is the thunder of the ocean rollers/Mighty are the breakers of the sea/But the Lord on High, He is mightier than these/Oh, so mighty, so mighty is He
The Lord is King; he reigns/He established the world and His throne from all eternity/Oh the strength and majesty/That are His to set into place the ocean’s boundaries
The seas have lifted up/They’ve lifted up their voices/The pounding surf it calls/Out from the shore
Mighty is the thunder of the ocean rollers/Mighty are the breakers of the sea/But the Lord on High, He is mightier than these/Oh, so mighty, so mighty is He
When we come to the waters/When we stand with our feet on the shore/With the faith of our fathers/We’ll see a way where there was no way before/When skies grow darker/When we fear that there’s no solid ground/He walks on the water/At his word all tempests bow
Mighty is the thunder of the ocean rollers/Mighty are the breakers of the sea/But the Lord on High, He is mightier than these/Oh, so mighty, so mighty is He