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Love Lifted Me (Devotional)
May 4, 2018 (Lyric Video Release Date)
Love Lifted Me
Psalm 145:14
New International Version (NIV)
14 The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
Every time I listen to this hymn, I think of another song. It’s one of my favorite CCM tunes and it falls right in line with the breakdown of Love Lifted Me. Love Won’t Leave You is a powerful Christian anthem by the vocal group, Avalon that gives me resounding hope and reassurance every time I hear it. The chorus states:
Love won't leave you empty-handed
Broken down and somewhere stranded
Love won't leave you hanging on for life
Cause love is
Love is always true
God is love
And love won't leave you
To make a comparison with this song and Love Lifted Me is simple. God is love and love lifts us up. Therefore, God lifts us up.
What God did for us is unimaginable. He sent his son to die for our sins. The reason why I mention this is because I believe that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of love. He is love incarnate. This is the truth behind those thoughts:
John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Not only did God send his son to lay down his life for us, he intends to lift us up by changing our lives the moment we believe in him and start living for him.
John 10:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
When James Rowe and Howard E. Smith wrote and composed Love Lifted Me, I wondered why they had such a high usage of metaphors while putting the song together? The song is ahead of its time as so many CCM artists in today’s Christian writing use metaphors especially regarding the oceans.
I was sinking deep in sin
Far from the peaceful shore
Very deeply stained within
Sinking to rise no more
But the Master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry
From the waters lifted me
Now safe am I.
Love lifted me, love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me
Love lifted me, love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me
Souls in danger, look above,
Jesus completely saves,
He will lift you by His love,
Out of the angry waves;
He’s the Master of the sea,
Billows His will obey,
He your Savior wants to be, be saved today.
All my heart to Him I give
Ever to Him I’ll cling
In His blessed presence live
Ever His praises sing
Love so mighty and so true
Merits my soul’s best songs
Faithful, loving service all to Him belongs.
It’s a beautiful song that compares the dangers of sin to drowning in the ocean, and the safety of the shore, symbolic of God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy being far away.
When God hears the cries of the one in deep waters, he saves by lifting them up by his love, while saying ‘nothing else could help’.
The saved then uses the life changing situation he was lifted from, telling others to in danger to ‘look above’ as one of my favorite lines in the song follows: ‘Jesus COMPLETELY saves.’
They return to the metaphor proclaim that our Savior is the master of the seas and the wind and the waves obey him.
Matthew 8:24-27
New International Version (NIV)
24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
They close out the verse by saying he is relentless in his pursuits to save you today!
They also explore giving our lives to God for the debt he paid for us by lifting us from certain death. We gladly devote our lives to being in his presence and lifting up his praises.
It’s because of his mighty and true love that our souls are singing amazing songs.
They continue to speak of the purity and wholeness of love found in our Creator, and continue to glorify God by proclaiming every faithful act and deed belongs to God as these things are in his nature.
The apex of the song while keeping the original integrity of the hymn is the bridge I added. My focus was to add in the response of the ‘even me’ response of the chorus. The bridge added how he changed our lives by what he did for us and through us.
Even me, even me, you set me
Long ago, on a tree shaped my identity
Even me, even me, new destiny
And I know, your love gave me eternity
God giving us eternal life is the ultimate way in which he lifts us up.
Romans 6:23
New International Version (NIV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Download Love Lifted Me by searching “Jermaine Bollinger NOMAD” on your favorite digital download or streaming music service.
