On the rare occasion, God will give the idea for a song completely, or almost completely, developed. There is very little else for me to do other than write it down. But most of the time, like anything else we do for the Lord, He expects me to work at it to make it the best I can, utilizing the gifts He has given. I know there are those with notebooks full of hundreds of songs for which they feel they have been just the conduit God uses to give those songs to the world. For me it doesn’t work that way very often. Usually, God expects me to use a little elbow grease to make the inspiration He has given me the best it can be for Him. I may have to spend time working on the rhyme and meter or rhythm of the piece to get it to flow smoothly. I may have to spend some time in God’s Word making sure the song is Biblically accurate and theologically sound. This should always be double-checked to make sure it isn’t sacrificed for a rhyme. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves we are not writing for a “hit” but rather for the Lord and the work should honor Him and His Word in all ways.
There are times when I have to put a song away for awhile and come to it again with fresh eyes. This will enable me to see problems with it and to see how to fix them. Sometimes it helps to make the song more original, so I am not just repeating the exact same ideas, songs and sounds over and over again. The gospel does bear repeating but if all songs on a project sound the same, it can be boring for the listener. It can be hard work trying to find a unique way of looking at material that is thousands of years old! But it can be done. One song that really stands out as an illustration of this is Mark Bishop’s “Bring Lazarus Back.” There are a number of wonderful “Lazarus” songs, but one of the most insightful is this one. It takes the point of view Jesus wept, not just because His friend had died, but because He had to bring him back to this world after he had been in God’s presence. Now, that is a song with a fresh idea that grabbed my attention.
Although gospel song writing requires work, there is a danger to be guarded against. As writers, we can’t allow ourselves to get stuck on the treadmill of endlessly rewriting a song. Not every song we write will be our “Midnight Cry” and, sometimes we have to accept some of them will be mediocre. I have written over two hundred and sixty songs to date. I believe all were inspired of God because they speak the truth of the gospel. A few were gifts from God and required little work. Almost all of them required work on my part so I could serve the Lord by using the gifts He has given me. Some are really good gospel songs. More are what I called “sturdy little songs.” They are good. They share God’s word but they don’t leave you feeling “Wow!” Some, honestly, aren’t very good. Thankfully, this number is smaller than the rest! We’ve all heard successful gospel song writers like Rodney Griffin say they have written hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of songs. Though they may have a lot more “Wow!” songs than the rest of us, I suspect they have some of the others too.
In cases where a song never quite gets off the ground in the way I would like, I know God hasn’t failed in His inspiration. It is I who has failed in my execution—or that song is waiting for me to come back to it and make it what the Lord intended it to be, someday. Sometimes our opinion of our own songs is completely off. We have sung songs we rarely sing only to have people ask, “Why haven’t you recorded that one? It really touched my heart!”
I do believe the Lord inspires me to write gospel songs but I also believe He expects me to use the gifts He has given me to make each song the best I can for and through Him. When people compliment me on songs after we sing, I usually say, “Thank you. I am just doing the best I can for the Lord as He enables me.” And I will continue to do that for as long as he calls me to it. |
