The Story Behind the Song
This hymn is included in the August 2nd service at 11 am. Ways to attend in person and online can be found here.
This song can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVo4otd9LGI
Walt Harrah is a currently active singer, song writer, and worship leader (b. 1948). He writes of his childhood and teen years: “A Christian home, Godly parents, a strict but faithful upbringing. There was music 24/7 in the house, singing with my siblings for all the church events. My youth was filled with band, choir, musicals, great formative teachers.” As a young adult, he earned a degree in Church Music from the University of Southern California, and then obtained a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary.
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In 1987, he wrote the words and music to “Think About His Love.” On his website, Walt offers the following information about the song:
“Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord (Psalm 107:43).
It’s not entirely ‘fashionable’ to engage the mind in worship. We get caught up in the emotion of the moment, and the mind sometimes gets left at the door, because it’s not really needed. But scripture says that we are wise if we will intentionally ponder what God has done, and actively recall his deeds of deliverance in Bible history, in church history, and in our own lives.”
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Harrah makes a crucial point about true, God-honoring (as opposed to human-centered) worship—it involves both head and heart, both thinking and feeling. In an article entitled “Can You Engage Both Heart and Mind?,” pastor John Ortberg describes a certain type of worship—“often shallow, sometimes artificial, and rarely reflective. Little attention is given to worshiping with the mind. It produces people who have little depth or rootedness”—which he calls “scarecrow worship” because, like the character in “The Wizard of Oz,” it needs a brain. Opposed to this are churches that “focus keenly on cognitive correctness. They recite great creeds, distribute reams of exegetical information, craft careful prayers ahead of time. And yet the heart and spirit are not seized with the wonder and passion that characterize those in Scripture who must fall on their faces when they encounter the living God. No one is ever so moved that she actually moves.” Ortberg calls this “tin man worship” because it needs a heart. The worst case scenario is “to combine in a single service the thoughtfulness usually associated with chandelier-swinging Pentecostals with the emotional expression of Scottish Presbyterians.”
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The best case, however, is balanced, Biblical worship that engages both intellect and passion. As Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also” (1 Corinthians 14:15). To be God-pleasing, our worship must involve our hearts and our heads. It’s both/and, not either/or. We don’t have the option of choosing one at the expense of the other. Jesus himself said, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).
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Spirit and truth, heart and head, passion and intelligence. Both/and.
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So how do we do that?
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By being like the sons of Korah who knew God’s love both experientially and intellectually: “We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple” (Psalm 48:9).
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By pondering both God’s Word (“I think of your rules from of old…” [Psalm 119:52]) and how our conduct measures up to it (“I think on my ways…” [Psalm 119:59]).
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By training ourselves to concentrate on God’s characteristics: “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
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By asking God to open not just our hearts, but our minds as well: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).
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The next opportunity you have to worship, whether corporately or singularly, “Think about His love, think about His goodness, think about His grace that’s brought us through.” Then respond with full-hearted praise for His love, open-handed gratitude for His goodness, and share His grace with someone else who needs to be brought from death to life.
Til Next Week!
Pastor David
Anastasia Music 