On My Side

Some songwriting processes I can’t remember.  This one:  I can.  It was my senior year of college…I was the only one in our dorm apartment.  I wasn’t a procrastinator and it was Sunday night.  So, I think everyone else was out studying and I was hanging out playing my guitar.  Some of my best friends and myself had just gotten back from our church Bible Study and the Psalm of the evening had been Psalm 124, which I’ll go ahead and quote here…

“If the Lord had not been on our side – let Israel say – if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.  Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.  We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken and we have escaped.  Our help is in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Short Psalm, pretty cool.  I remember sitting with my guitar playing a new chord progression I hadn’t used before because it had a major 7 (at least I think that is what it is…I don’t know music theory, friends.  I’m trying, but it evades me) in it.  All the sudden words from the Psalm just kept coming…”If the Lord had not been on my side…that current would have swept me out of sight….taken me under while I was still alive….”  The entirety of this song wrote itself in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I remember thinking God must have just transmitted this straight from His hands to my paper.

I got to play it the next week at Bible Study, and the worship pastor was there.  I’ll never forget the look on his face…because it said, “Wow…I didn’t know Pinky wrote songs.”  And then I thought, “Huh…maybe I can write good songs!”  So, this was a huge gift.  It was also my first full band studio song.  So, it may sound a little dated on the album, but I still love it.  And when we forget our place, let us say, “If the Lord had not been on our side…(we would not know any grace or blessing), but praise be to God who has saved us.”

On My Side

The water outside was rising
Engulfing me over again
The flood of emptiness had set in
It was over my head; I’m already swimming
My doubts can roll like waves on the ocean
I have no confidence
My fears were pulling me down
But He pulled me out, rescued me
Set me free

If the Lord had not been on my side
That current would have swept me out of sight
Taken me under while I was still alive
If the Lord had not been on my side

When all the anxieties inside of me
Slowly drain away
My heart cries, hear it rise
Saying, “Here am I, live or die”
I am ready but I feel like I am caged in
I can’t tear down these walls
My comforts look like prison bars
But He’s breaking the chains, rescuing me
He set me free

If the Lord had not been on my side
I would still be trapped in the darkest night
Now I’m free to spread my wings and fly
All because the Lord is on my side

My help is in the Lord; His name I praise
My help is in the Lord; His fame I sing                  
He’s pulling me out
Rescuing me
Breaking the chains
He set me free