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What We Sing: Show Us Christ

One of the things that I have really grown to appreciate about the music we sing at Calvary Grace is the inclusion of songs of supplication. Like many of the Psalms, songs of supplication reveal our weakness and God's strength, our lack of faith and His faithfulness, our sin and His holiness, etc. We cry out in song, seeking that our Trinitarian God would "Abide with Me", that He would "Arise and Shine", that He would "By Thy Mercy" deliver us from the temptations and pitfalls of sin we face, and that He would ultimately "Show us Christ". It is this last song that I wish to share with you today.

In the last few weeks, our church has begun singing the song "Show us Christ" which was written by Doug Plank and Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Music. The lyrics are simple, yet profound in their implications. Let's take a look at verse 1.

Prepare our hearts, O God
Help us to receive
Break the hard and stony ground
Help our unbelief
Plant Your Word down deep in us
Cause it to bear fruit
Open up our ears to hear
Lead us in Your truth

We start the song by asking God to do a work in our hearts that only He is capable of. It only takes a moment of reflection to realize that fighting sin in our own strength is a hopeless battle. God has started the work of sanctification and He is the one who will complete it (Phil. 1:6). The lyrics reflect our lack of faith, our hardness of heart, and our need for the truth of God's Word to not only break through, but to be planted (James 1:21) and bear fruit (John 15:4). We need God to open our ears to hear (Luke 8:8) and then lead us (Psalm 23:1-3). Like I said, simple, yet profound.

Chorus:

Show us Christ, show us Christ
O God, reveal Your glory
Through the preaching of Your Word
Until every heart confesses Christ is Lord

Here lies the foundation of our faith. Week after week, our pastor challenges us to "look to Christ". He is our salvation, our joy, our hope, our delight, our righteousness, our peace, and the list goes on. The preaching of His word points us to Christ and reveals His glory (John 5:37-47). Here is the interesting part, the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is not just for unbelievers, but for believers as well. We need to confess Christ is Lord every moment of our existence. We need to remind ourselves that He is God of very God and that He is Lord of all. This is not just a request for conversion of the unbeliever, but also a request for the sanctification of the believer.

For Verse 2, I will simply state references to further reflect upon:

Your Word is living light (Psalm 119:105)
Upon our darkened eyes
Guards us through temptations (Psalm 119:11)
Makes the simple wise (Psalm 19:7)
Your Word is food for famished ones (Spiritually Famished)
Freedom for the slave (Slaves to Sin, Ephesians 2:1-10)
Riches for the needy soul (Spiritually Poor)
Come speak to us today

And finally, the bridge:

Where else can we go, Lord
Where else can we go
You have the words of eternal life

A simple reiteration of Peter from John 6:68.

I would encourage you to listen and reflect upon the words of this song. My hope is that you would be challenged and encouraged to ask God to reveal Christ through the preaching of His Word to the honour and glory of His mighty and holy name.

http://sovereigngracemusic.bandcamp.com/track/show-us-christ