Well, the time has come. We’ve reached track six of my worship mixed tape! As the last installment in this series, it’s only fitting to cover one of my all time favorite worship songs, a song that I was introduced to at C4, and a song that has been an anthem for our church since the very beginning. That song is Came to My Rescue by Hillsong.
This song is the cry of my heart as it speaks to the heart of true submission to God, a desire to have God be glorified in all aspects of my life.
Of course I could tell you all about the song myself, but I felt it more fitting to bring in a guest on this one, someone who has been here since the beginning and knows the heart and drive behind this song firsthand. That guest is none other than our very own worship leader, Matt Wallenburg.
I know he’s not a “guest” to you, but he is a guest to the blog...so just roll with it.
The following was written by Matt back in October...2017... So I’ve been waiting a long time to post it. It’s full of heart, passion, and the Lord, so sit back and enjoy (Might I suggest clicking play and letting this song play as you read on?).
“The song Came to My Rescue was written by some of the musicians with Hillsong who had a desire to convey a simple heart of gratitude for what God has done. It stands out as one of my all-time favorites that I learned under my beloved mentor Sam Park before Matt Korniotes asked me to lead worship for C4 in early 2011.
Nearly my whole adult career has been in project management of some kind or another between engineering and the military, and at that time I knew that the beginning phase of this ministry was the same as the beginning phase of any project- it sets the foundation on which everything else is built going forward. Any future adjustment or correction to the foundation requires ripping down anything that has been built on top of the foundation.
Which is why during the first days I was praying hard about how God would establish this brand new worship ministry and make it what He wanted, not what I had a vision for or what I was comfortable with.
I have led worship since I was 14 and experienced so many different ways to lead. With a completely open-ended decision to make, I sought that the Lord would establish something new and fresh in me that was appropriate for the work He wanted to do at C4. I didn't want something that was right for the previous ministries I had served with, but a fresh outpouring that was tailored for the specific work that the LORD was wanting to do with our newborn fellowship.
The structure that God brought from that time of seeking Him is a story all on its own, but out of that time of prayer came a very clear vision that God wanted me to simply remind His kids of who He is and about what our response should be because of that.
Yes, I know that's a generic statement that describes how all worship should be, and every Christian knows it; at the same time, we get so caught up in trying to do what's right, trying to understand God, and the complexity of living for Him in a world that opposes Him, that our worship gets cloudy. Routine and religion set in as we try to figure things out, and the simplicity of being kids reaching up, out of our mess, for Daddy, becomes something we look down on. What God wanted for C4 had to be simple and so very clear, and it had to stay that way. We would start with singing songs that reminded us of who God is and what He has done, and then as the worship set progressed we would intentionally put ourselves in a position of humility before Him as a result of those truths we reminded ourselves of.
Came to My Rescue fits that vision so perfectly. The writers of this song had the same heart that I had when they wrote Came to My Rescue. Since it so appropriately describes our position in the Lord, it became our first anthem as a new fellowship, completely unifying Matt K and myself around the fundamental importance of that sort of powerful simplicity.
Here’s what the song says:
Falling on my knees in worship
Giving all I am to seek Your face
LORD all I am is Yours
My whole life I place in Your hands
God of mercy, humbled I bow down
In Your presence at Your throne
I called, You answered
And You came to my rescue and I
Want to be where You are
In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high
Look at how intimate the language is. Nearly every line of the song mentions both me as the rescuee and God as the rescuer.
It can be hard to find worship songs where our response isn’t all about us and what WE say we can and will do. So much of our worship response is about the things we'll do for God, but this one is simply about us being and leaving the doing to our Savior. The only thing we’re called to do in this song is fall on our knees and place our lives in His hands. Through that He is glorified and lifted high in our lives.
THAT is salvation, folks!
Paul says in Galatians 3:3 (though really the whole book of Galatians addresses this point so wonderfully),
"Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?"
We are saved when we realize that there is no hope for us fixing ourselves and that we have a critical need that nobody but Jesus can fill. The best that we can ever do and the greatest thing that we can give to God is to simply exist in Him and lift up to Him our broken, messed up hearts. That is worship. That is our response to Him when we first allow Him to take His place as the Sovereign King of our reality, and it remains our only real response as we walk through our long journey of faith.
I never develop anything more to give to God as a Christian.
I never become anything better than a pitiful wretch incapable of anything good
I AM a pitiful wretch in whom the Spirit of God dwells.
I am confident that Came to My Rescue will always be an anthem for me personally and for C4 as a family no matter how long we follow the LORD because our position never changes. The only thing we can ever do is kneel and place our lives in His merciful, capable hands and accept the rescue that He has performed.”
Well, there you have it folks. Came to my Rescue, an anthem for our church, and an anthem for our hearts. I pray you’re blessed by this song as you listen to the words. Close your eyes, pray to God, and call out for Him to be lifted high in your life!
In February of 2016, my family was rocked to the core. It was a Wednesday evening, and I was teaching the K-3rd graders when Nichole (my wife), clearly distraught, came upstairs, pulled me from the class and said, “It’s Doug." (my brother-in-law)"He was in a really bad car accident...and he didn’t make it.”
Immediately, my heart sank. I know many of you can relate. Maybe you’ve been there before. It’s that surreal experience where your mind tries to reconcile the words you just heard as the knot builds up in your stomach, your mouth goes dry, and your mind races a million miles an hour.
The loved one, who was just here living life, is gone. They've breathed their last breath. It starts to set in...although it feels impossible...no more conversations, no more jokes, no more hugs, no more them…in a matter of seconds, in the blink of an eye, Doug was gone.
My thoughts went to my sister, my nephews, and my niece. My heart broke for this loss that they were experiencing as I struggled to gather my thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
My heart was broken as I tried to grasp what had happened.
I quickly headed to Kansas City to be with my family and try to do anything I could to help. I knew there wasn’t a ton I could do, but I wanted to be there for my sister, for her kids, and for the rest of our family.
One morning while spending time with the Lord, a song came on that I had never heard before, and the words blew my mind! I was at a loss for words. It's just like God to put a song in my heart at the very moment that I need it, and this is a perfect example. (By the way, God can do this for you as well. Are you listening for what God is trying to show you?)
That song was Nothing is Wasted, by Elevation Worship.
As I listened to the song, Romans 8:28 immediately came to mind, where Paul says:
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
I know you’ve heard it before…but just read it a few more times…
That’s right. soak it up…
One more time…
One last time.
Yes I agree...This is a really hard verse to grasp!
In life, we’re all going to face highs and lows.
One moment, your career is going great. The next minute, you’re laid off.
One day, your finances are in order. The next day, every appliance is breaking, and your car is stranded on the highway.
One day, you feel fine. The next day, a test reveals cancer.
One day, you’re talking to a loved one. Then days later, they’re gone, and you’ll never get to talk to them again.
...you fill in the blanks.
The fact is, it’s easy for us to accept Romans 8:28 when we’re in the good times. Yet when the tough times come, we can’t imagine how God could use the situation for good. That’s where I found myself that morning as the words to Nothing is Wasted pierced my heart.
The chorus of this song says:
“You are loving, you are wise, there is nothing in my life, you cannot revive...there is nothing too hard for my God.”
And the 2nd verse is:
“Your Word inside of me, my strength, my everything, my hope will always be, Jesus. Your breath inside my lungs, You’re worthy of my trust, my hope will always be, Jesus.”
These lyrics tore through me that morning as I sat with tears streaming down my face, wrestling with this thought.
Here was A tragedy with so much pain and so much struggle, but somehow it wasn’t wasted?! How can that be?!
A couple of weeks later, I finally understood as I sat in Doug’s Celebration of Life Service with hundreds (literally HUNDREDS) of people-- some believers, some not, yet all worshiping together.
Some people in that room were singing in joy, remembering the way that Doug blessed them, knowing that they will see him again. Others struggled to reconcile their own lives, because although they had experienced the love of God through Doug, they never really understood what made Doug so different...and now they asked themselves, "What is this life about?" What I saw as a tragedy that caused enormous pain may have been the turning point in the lives of hundreds of people who knew and loved Doug. Who am I to question the sovereignty and will of our almighty Father?!
We may never understand the things that happen in our lives. That’s ok.
Romans 8 says that God works things together for good for those who love Him. It does NOT say that God only allows good things to happen to those who love Him. Nowhere in God’s Word does He say that He’s going to explain everything to us and make sure that our lives are easy. On the contrary, as we look to the lives of the disciples, early Christians, and even Jesus Himself, we see that there will be pain and suffering as we walk on this earth.
We simply need to understand that God will use every situation in our lives for good if we follow after Him.
That day, I came to realize that even though I can't immediately see what God is doing, I can trust in Him. I can let Him work. I can offer Him my praise in spite of my circumstance. Because I know that, in God, Nothing is Wasted.
So Nothing is Wasted takes its spot as track 2 on my Mixed Tape. Check it out!
