I was listening to a song by Jason Upton called “Stones”
this morning. Now, if you’re not
familiar with Jason Upton – he is one of the most unique worship leaders that
I’ve ever encountered. If I had to
classify him in a genre, I’d probably put him into the “prophetic worship”
category, which I understand means that I’ve lost at least ten of you reading
because there’s a lot of craziness and silliness that is also labeled in that
category. But from listening to
his music [I have 13 of his CDs] and also from seeing him twice live, I truly
believe that he is someone who literally sings prophetically – singing God’s
right-now heart over the people who are listening. As you'll hear if you listen to "Stones," a good deal of the time he writes/sings spontaneously - this song wasn't written before he started singing it live, and it was only recorded once. If you’re interested in
starting to listen to him, let me know so that I can direct you to one of the
more ‘normal’ albums first :). He takes some getting used to :).
So anyway, I’m listening to “Stones,” which is one of those
songs that made me say, “what on earth is THIS??” the first ten or so times
that I heard it. [This is not
abnormal when listening to Jason Upton.]
But a couple of years ago, somewhere around the eleventh time that I
heard the song – something just JUMPED out at me and smacked me in the face and
it became one of the most profound songs that I’ve ever heard. This song isn’t Scripture, obviously –
but the principles that he talks about are Biblically sound and there are
plenty of Scriptures that can reinforce them.
He starts off the song by singing “in
the midst of the Presence, there’s the stones.” If you’re scratching your
head and saying “huh?” – you’re in good company. But let me take you through it
as it became clear to me…
He goes on to talk about the stone that the world’s rejected – the chief
cornerstone. So okay, this isn’t too bad – he’s saying that in the midst of the
presence of God, we find Christ.
So far, so good, right?
Then he starts saying that the stone kills the giant. Okayyyyy, so now we’ve got David &
Goliath imagery here alongside of Christ imagery… so… the stone (which is
Christ) is found in the presence of God, and even though that stone is what the
world has rejected, it’s that very stone that we’ve been given to use to kill
the giants in our lives.
Deep… deep… but he’s not done.
Then he starts defining the stone in another way – yes, it
is Christ – but then he also begins to define the stone as the way of the Lord,
the fear of the Lord. And “fear” not meaning terror or anxiety – meaning
complete awe of the majesty and glory of God that produces in us absolute
honor, respect, reverence and confidence.
Well, that definitely makes sense in the David & Goliath context. When David picked up those stones to
kill the giant, I always used to think “wow, that took an ENORMOUS amount of
faith to do that!” But now I think
a little differently. Of course,
yes, it still did take an enormous amount of faith – but I don’t think David saw it that way. I think that David feared [respected, revered, honored]
the Lord so much… and his view of God because
of that fear was so BIG… that it felt perfectly normal for him to grab five
stones and a sling to take down the man that had paralyzed the entire Israelite
army.
Think about it in terms of our own lives. When we’re afraid or hesitant to do
something, it’s usually because of a lack of confidence in the outcome. I remember at the transitions retreat watching people completely freak out before
going on the Giant Swing [literally exactly what it sounds like if you aren’t familiar]
because it looked so intimidating… so high… so dangerous. And then I watched those same people
come back the following year, and the following, and by the third or fourth
year they were strolling up to that swing with total swag and zero fear. What changed? The swing didn’t.
No, their confidence level in that swing did. They had experienced it for themselves time and time again
and they began to truly know that the swing was not going to fail them.
And David, after he had experienced the Lord for himself on
so many other occasions, had gained that same confidence. This was the same God who had helped
him kill a lion and bear that threatened his flock – so why would this “uncircumcised
Philistine” be any different? To David, picking up those stones wasn’t
this huge, gutsy move – it was logical.
His fear of God, his confidence in God, was so big that he couldn’t
even understand why the Israelite army was even afraid of this guy.
In other words –
because he feared the Lord… he feared nothing else.
So back to our song… in the midst of the presence of God, we
find the stone – which is Christ, because it’s only through Christ that we even
have access to God – but specifically, we’re asked to PICK UP the stone that
the whole world has rejected – which denotes picking up the fear of God. And
it’s in picking that up that we… WE… are able to kill giants.
My absolute favorite, favorite line in this song is this:
There it is!!
In the midst of the Presence, the giant-killer
It’s the way of the fear of the Lord
Pick it up!
I love how there’s even an element of revelation in the song itself – as if
suddenly a light switch had been turned on. “There it is!”
“Hey look, here’s our weapon!”
If we would truly, truly, truly learn to fear God… there is absolutely
NOTHING that would cause us fear in our lives, and there would be no giant that
could not be taken down. We would
go anywhere, do anything for the Lord no matter how crazy or radical or even
dangerous. There would be nothing
that Satan could hold over our heads and say “ah, but I’m holding you back
here.” But this fear of the Lord, according to this song, isn’t just something
that is given to all Christians just because they’re saved.
We have to pick it
up.
And one of those most interesting things that this song
brings out is HOW we do that. Not
by striving. Not by begging God to
give it to us [although prayer plays a role]. In fact, it’s not so much a HOW, but a WHERE… in the midst
of the Presence. Intimacy. Solitude.
Time sitting before God and just simply
KNOWING Him. I can imagine that
this was probably imparted to David during the many long hours he spent alone
with his harp and his God as he tended the sheep. The fear of the Lord
isn’t something that we can achieve, it’s something that must be imparted to us
– and the only way for impartation to happen is through sustained intimacy. And it’s not a quick process, for those
of you who are like me and are long-sufferingly-challenged. As much as we’d like spiritual growth
and understanding to happen like Neo’s kung-fu instant download in The Matrix – it doesn’t most of the
time. But it’s only through this
process that we can begin to truly experience the fear of God – which not only
is a giant-killer, but also the beginning of wisdom… which is another blog post
entirely :).
Do you have giants in your life? Are
there circumstances on the outside, or strongholds on the inside, that seem
absolutely impossible to defeat? Are
you battling the same battle over and over again to the point where you’ve
actually began to accept it as simply part of who you are? Don’t do it! There is no giant that
can’t be brought down with the right stones – and that very stone is the fear
of God that is found in His Presence through Christ.
If the giant is internal – the fear of God is absolutely the
answer. If we fear God truly, we cannot fear or desire anything else but Him. Through a true, genuine fear of the
Lord – other strongholds/temptations/desires will just naturally fall by the
wayside. We won’t have to strive and wrestle – we will no longer even DESIRE
those things once the fear of God has taken its rightful place in our hearts. If the giant is external – there’s no
guarantee that the fear of God will instantly solve whatever problem you face –
but God is more interested in changing your character than changing your
circumstances. In His Presence,
YOU will change. Your
circumstances will no longer affect your joy or your praise when you truly pick
up the fear of the Lord, and you will be able to boast in your afflictions as
Paul did – because you will delight that His power is actually perfected and
brought to fulfillment through those very circumstances. Your circumstances will be the very
thing that will bring Him glory – and with the fear of the Lord, that alone
will be your deepest desire. And once that happens, whether the external
circumstance changes or not, the giant has been slain.
It’s such a simple thing, a stone. It’s no wonder that the world has rejected
it. But it’s waiting for us if we
are willing to look for it. That
first line now makes a little more sense…. “in the midst of the Presence,
there’s the stones.” And those
stones can only be found there – the fear of God can only be found in the presence
of God. It cannot be taught or
even caught – it must be imparted from the Lord Himself.
I believe that a true, genuine fear of God is the only thing that will be able
to truly change US, our ministries, our city, our nation and our world. I’m so far from it. At times I feel like it’s almost
unattainable. But most of the time, when that feeling occurs, it’s because I’m not
spending enough time in the Presence… so the stones seem distant and small.
Are you, like me, tired of being intimidated by your giants? Do you strive to be like David and not
the Israelite army? Enter into His
presence through the name of Jesus and pick up the stones… the fear of the
Lord… and watch those giants begin to
fall.
from Jason Upton's 2005 album "Open Up The Earth."
Background vocals by Jason's wife Rachel Upton.
Lyrics below are often repeated, only main lyrics are written.
Listen to "Stones" by clicking here.
in the midst of the Presence, there’s the
stones
in the midst of the Presence, I give you stones
in the midst of the River, I give you stones
that will kill the giant
in the midst of the presence, there’s the stones
that the world’s rejected
that the world’s discarded
in the midst of the presence, there’s the stones
that the world rejected
there’s the stone, the chief cornerstone
in the midst of the presence there’s the stone that the world rejected
and it kills the giant
there’s the stone that killed the giant
do you see what I see?
there’s the stone that the world rejected and it kills the giant
there it is!
pick up the way of the Lord
pick it up!
the way of the Lord
the fear of the Lord
there it is!!
in the midst of the presence, the giant killer
it’s the way of the fear of the Lord
pick it up!
