Mixed Tape Vol. I Track 3 - Overwhelmed
When you really start to pay attention to the mixture of words and sounds in worship songs, you’ll come to realize that songs emote many different feelings. Some songs emote adoration, some reflection, and then…there are response songs. These are songs that cause us to cry out to the Lord in response to what He’s done. Response songs often hold themes of submission or statements of an action that we’re going to take.
Song number 3 on my mix tape is definitely a response song.
There are so many things that I love about this song.
#1 It’s about God…Duh
#2 It’s by Big Daddy Weave <- One of my all time favorite bands…(Do you think I look like Mike Weaver?)
#3 It’s a cry out to the Lord from a state of being totally, inexplicably, undeniably, overwhelmed by Him.
In today’s world, it’s considered a sign of weakness to say that we’re overwhelmed by something.
If I tell my boss that I’m overwhelmed with my work load, he might tell me to get more organized.
If I’m overwhelmed by everything going on in my personal life, it signals to others that I am not in control.
If I’m overwhelmed by bills, one would say that I don’t have my finances under wraps.
Yet, being overwhelmed by God is an amazing place to be!
You read that right -- being overwhelmed by God is right where we need to be.
Sadly, we find that a better description of ourselves would often be “underwhelmed” by God. We go to church, maybe pop in for a Bible study, occasionally spend some time in the Word and say a couple of prayers. Yet we lament about how we can’t draw closer to God, and we’re “not sure” He’s even there. We praise Him when everything is going right, yet at the very moment of disappointment, frustration, or pain, we forsake His name.
What is wrong with us?!
We rarely allow ourselves to get to a point of being overwhelmed by God! Even though it’s in that overwhelmed state where we see His greatness, His power, His faithfulness!
Have you ever sat outside and just looked at God’s creation?
Have you ever listened to the sound of the wind as it rips through a canyon or rustles leaves on a tree?
Have you ever really thought about how your body functions?
Have you ever pondered the detail, beauty, and wonder of the earth circling around the sun? Did you realize that the earth is flying through space at 67,000 miles per hour while spinning at a rate of 1000 miles per hour while tilted at 23.5 degrees? Any change to these numbers and we wouldn’t have seasons, gravity, or even the ability to exist!
Have you ever meditated on the fact that God has seen and knows EVERYTHING that already has and will ever happen?
Have you ever sat in wonder of the fact that in spite of ALL of this, God loves YOU? And He wants to have a personal relationship with you…the very person sitting in front of this screen.
Psalm 8:3-9 says:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
When we pause and really take in what God is doing and has done -- when we consider His heavens and the work of His hands -- it’s easy to become overwhelmed with what God is doing.
The third song in my Mix-Tape is Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave.
The lyrics to this song have been the cry of my heart for a long time. I have shed tears listening to this song, my heart has been corrected by God while leading this song, and every time I hear this song I’m reminded that God has opened his arms to me, in spite of me. And that, my friends, is overwhelming.
Take a listen; you might have to play this one twice, but I encourage you to put everything else down, close your eyes, and prepare to be overwhelmed by our awesome and powerful God!
Love you all. See you next time.
CCLI #6219031
© 2011 Phil Wickham Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.); Seems Like Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.); Weave Country (Admin. by Word Entertainment, LLC); Word Music, LLC (Admin. by Word Entertainment, LLC)
Replayed with CCLI License CSPL0596