Maybe I didn’t accurately name this series since I’ve rarely featured a song that I knocked…I’m totally open to a new name for this series…
Rock or Knock: Rock.
Song: You Still Love Me
Artist: Tyrone Wells
Album: Where We Meet
Lyrics:
It’s taken years to build this house
At least a thousand cards, and I
Keep praying that it won’t fall down
I don’t want anyone to see
What’s going on inside of me
So I hide with shame behind these walls
But you see through it all
You know everything about me, and somehow you still love me
Somehow you still love me
You know everything about me, there’s nothing that you can’t see
Somehow you still love me
I’ve been so careless with your heart
So many times I let you down
And still you wait for me with open arms
It’s outrageous but it’s true
No matter what I do
I know your love for me will never change
It will always be the same
You know everything about me, and somehow you still love me
Somehow you still love me
You know everything about me, there’s nothing that you can’t see
Somehow you still love me
I know I’ve said these words before
But I’ve never meant it more
You are everything to me
So I’m standing here outside your door
You’re all I’ll ever need
You might be tempted to take the easy way out with this song, and upon my first listening I also took the easy way out. The easy way out is to take the song as though it were written to a woman who Tyrone is in love with. Now, I don’t know Tyrone’s heart but I believe this song goes deeper. It is a song that we can all sing to God.
Wells sings, “It’s taken years to build this house, at least a thousand cards…” can’t we all relate to that line? We feel like we’ve built up this house, the walls around our hearts and we pray that they don’t fall down. But, as C.S. Lewis writes in A Grief Observed, “He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.” And so God comes and knocks it down, despite our prayers. But even in the midst of destruction, we find that He still love us. We don’t want anyone to see inside, so we hide behind our walls filled with shame and regret. And still, He sees through it all. Not only does He see through it all, He loves us through it all. He knows everything about us, and somehow He still loves us. Miraculous.
We confess, we’ve been careless with His heart. He gives it to us unconditionally and so often we are like the woman caught in adultery (see John 8) as we give our hearts away to anything less than Him. He gives us His heart and all He asks in return is ours and yet we don’t give Him our hearts, at least not all of them. We let Him down time and time again and yet, somehow, He still waits for us with open loving arms, just like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. Every single time. It is outrageous. Sure, we can see Him having open arms with us once or twice, but every time? Unthinkable. But it is true, His love for us never changes. It is the same yesterday, today and forever.
In time, our hearts come around – they always do. We know we’ve said these words before and yet somehow we mean them more each time we say them. It really is like falling in love. The first time you tell your significant other you love them, you mean it. But each time after that you mean it more and more as the love between you continues to grow. He is everything to us, so we stand and wait outside His door, waiting for His open arms to embrace us. He truly is all we’ll ever need.
Also…in keeping with my blogging tradition the last word of the blog title is capitalized which makes perfect sense: not only does He still love us, but we still love Him. Always.
What I’m Listening To:
“You Still Love Me” by Tyrone Wells
“This Is Beautiful” by Tyrone Wells
“After Afterall” by William Fitzsimmons
“Restless” by Switchfoot
