Hymn - The Advance

scripture and prayer reflection

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Lyrics

You are my good in days of peace

My one support in days of war

Sufficiency when life shall cease

You're everything, I need nothing more

Your voice a calm to the storm

And Your hands faithful and strong

So do in me my love of sin,

Faithfully heal and cleanse

Create in me a heart so new

And teach me to follow You

You are my good in days of peace

My one support in days of war

Sufficiency when life shall cease

You're everything I need nothing more

Make my heart new

Make my heart new

Won’t you make my heart new, Lord

Won’t you make my heart new

Your voice a calm to the storm

And Your hands faithful and strong

Psalm 51:1-4, 7-12, 17

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 46:1-7

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Reflection

The tone of this song is that of brokenheartedness over sin mixed with a calm, settled peace grounded in God’s overflowing mercy and grace. This is mirrored in the simplicity of only piano and voice that eliminates distraction and busyness. As the singer calls out to God for help, he reflects on God’s character as one who is “faithful and strong”, and asks for a new heart.

This request for God to give us a new heart is based in Psalm 51, written by David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. When confronted with his sin, David owns his guilt and does the only thing he can do — he repents and throws himself on God’s mercy. Though he makes many, many mistakes over the course of his life — some that bear severe and heavy consequences — his grieved, brokenhearted response to his own sin is one of the reasons why he is called “a man after God’s own heart”.

Similarly, the singer acknowledges that there is something in his heart that still loves sin, something that he cannot just will away. He recognizes the need for God to cleanse us, to grow a love for Himself in our hearts that overwhelms our desire and attachment to sin. We don’t overcome sin simply by willfully turning away from it, but by looking to Christ and learning to love and follow Him.

Take time to ask God for eyes to see your sin, and a soft heart to feel the grief and weight of it. It is only once we begin to see our attachment to sin that we can turn from it, to God. Let this song become a prayer, asking God to heal and cleanse your heart, and meditating in His sufficiency in all things. Rest in His promised help and protection in trouble.