This Sunday we are excited to introduce a new song to you: God With Us.
To help you learn it, you may listen to on these platforms:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
(Note - Those services may show ads and song recommendations outside of our control)
Below is a reflection on the meaning and timeliness of this song from Mike Presley, one of our deacons and a member of our praise team. Please take a moment to read it and think about these glorious truths as we prepare for Sunday morning....
REFLECTIONS ON "GOD WITH US"
Mike Presley
Music is a true gift from God. It is amazing how notes, lyrics, and rhythm can combine to speak incredible truth about God into our souls. In the very challenging weeks since my dad passed away in late September, the Lord has continually used music to turn my heart toward Him and to help me remember that He is in control, that I am not, and that I can rest deeply in His hands.
The song “God with Us” by All Sons and Daughters has been especially impactful. It includes simple but deep truths about Christ that has ministered to me, especially the first verse and the chorus:
You’ve come to bring peace / To be love / To be nearer to us
You've come / To bring life / To be light / To shine brighter in us
Oh Emmanuel / God with us
Our Deliverer / You are Savior / In Your presence we find our strength
Over everything / Our redemption / God with us / You are God with us
Emmanuel is Hebrew for “God with us,” meaning that God Himself came to redeem His people and His creation as the incarnate Christ. It is through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that God defeats sin and death and makes a way home for us. The song is based on Matthew 1:20-23, in which an angel gives Joseph a message regarding Mary in a dream:
Matthew 1:20-23 - “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’”
John 1 says that the incarnate Christ is the Word made flesh and, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” I know that many others at Gateway also are going through a challenging season right now, whether it is sickness, loss, relational difficulties, or something that is just hard. When we look horizontally at our circumstances, the brokenness and hardship can sometimes seem overwhelming. But take heart, because Christ is the light that shines and defeats the darkness for all time. When we look vertically to Him, we are reminded that He is with us in every moment and every trial. It is in Him and not in ourselves that we find strength, hope, peace, joy, and love. We cry out, “Lord, we love you and need you.”
We need these reminders on the days when the heaviness of living in a fallen, sinful world seems too much. When we focus on Christ, we are reminded that this current world is not our true home. Our true home as Christians is the eternal and everlasting Kingdom of God where pain, tears, and sadness will be no more. That should give us hope and courage not in ourselves but in the Lord and his provision for us. It should give us confidence in how these trials, though painfully hard in the moment, grow and refine our faith and trust not in ourselves and our own strength, but in the Lord. God has not left us but is WITH US!