After creating ‘lyrics for living’ to be the occasional equivalent of an archaeological dig into the world of ancient hymnody, for the second time in two months, I am reaching for a song written in 2021.
What is happening to my world?
Is lockdown getting to me?
This time last week I was expanding my playlist on Spotify. Because contemporary Christian music passes me by, I like to listen to some of their playlists and see … as an early morning cockroach walks across my keyboard … now, where was I? Yes, so I like to listen to their playlists and see if I stumble across an artist I like. It is kinda how I discovered Caroline Cobb and Taylor Leonhardt…
But this time last week it was TobyMac, all 56 years of him. And just as it was with Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven back in August (link here), I couldn’t get enough of the song. Different rooms in the house. Different versions on YouTube. Different generations dancing in the lounge (well, just the grandchildren who were in a lockdown ‘bubble’ with us) …
I love the music, but for a world going through a wretched time, the lyrics are even better. Here, see what you think. Intentionally, this is a lyrics-only version of the song…
It may be midnight or midday Never early, never late He gon’ stand by what He claim Lived enough life to say
I heard your heart I see your pain Out in the dark Out in the rain Feel so alone Feel so afraid I heard you pray in Jesus’ name
It may be midnight or midday…
Help is on the way (roundin’ the corner) Help is on the way (comin’ for ya) Help is on the way (yeah, yeah) I’ve lived enough life to say Help is on the way
Sometimes it’s days Sometimes it’s years Some face a lifetime of falling tears But He’s in the darkness He’s in the cold Just like the morning, He always shows
It may be midnight or midday…
Help is on the way (roundin’ the corner)…
Well I’ve seen my share of troubles But the Lord ain’t failed me yet So I’m holding on to the promise y’all That He’s rolling up His sleeves again
Said I’ve seen my share of troubles
Don’t you know it (Rolling up his sleeves again) I can see him rolling (Rolling up, rolling up) Help is coming (Rolling up his sleeves again)
Songwriters: Micah Darrel Kuiper / Kevin Michael Mc Keehan
Now that we’ve mixed in word with sound, let’s sprinkle image on the top…
OK, now it is time for the big question.
Why? Why do I find this song so appealing?
The God in it
He is big. He is near. He is at the center of the song. His faithfulness (‘stand by what he claimed’) and his sovereignty (‘never early, never late’) are evident; but so also are his help (‘help is on the way … roundin’ the corner … comin’ for ya’), his presence (He’s in the darkness; he’s in the cold’) and his action (‘rolling up his sleeves again’). Sure, it ain’t exactly Charles Wesley lyrics, but could the transcendence and immanence of God, leaning into our troubled lives, be expressed more simply?
I doubt it.
In this song, God is coming towards us in our pain, long before we move towards him in it. Plus, it is so resonant with Scripture. Psalm 121’s ‘my help comes from the Lord’ comes to mind — as does Peterson’s paraphrase of ‘The Lord will lay bare his holy arm…’ (Is 52.10) … yes, you guessed it … as ‘God has rolled up his sleeves’.
The reality in it
Chemistry taught me that the natural world is comprised largely of the basic elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. So much is a combination of these four. When the heart travels to the pain-full world, so much of it is a combination of these basic, elemental experiences: ‘dark/rain/alone/afraid’ and we could add ‘cold’ as well.
Then he adds the timeline for these experiences — ‘sometimes its days, sometimes its years … a lifetime of fallen tears’. Oh, wow. How real is this for so many people?! These two songs may both be born in covidian times, but there is so much more pain out there than Covid. Corruption. Persecution. Ecclesiastes 3.16-4.12 … and what TobyMac himself is enduring, as he writes — the death of his firstborn son to a drug overdose at 21 years of age.
Then, ‘I heard you pray, in Jesus’ name’. Fragile, feeble — but not giving up.
The imagery in it
This is what captured me, initially. As a trainer of preachers, one thing I go on and on about is the value of observing, and using, everyday imagery when it comes to illustration. The everyday appeals to everyone. It just does. TobyMac is writing a song about hope and he reaches for the most everyday image of all — happening, literally, every day! — just as Martin Luther King used to do.
‘It may be midnight or midday … Just like the morning, He always shows’
How many times have you laid awake through the long hours of midnight, longing for the dawn to arrive? That is a metaphor for life. That is the image of hope. And when I get to heaven, I am going to have a wee chat with the Apostle Paul. “Ok, I believe what you say and I want to live it — ‘the greatest of these is love’ — but can I just ask, ‘what happens to that love if there is no hope?'”
The genre in it
This might be a stretch because I am not sure of all the symbolism going on in the video.
But when they slip into that tent, the genre seems to connect with the African-American ‘spirituals’ heritage in terms of tempo (with the alignment of the lyrics already clear) … and then the tent evokes an American evangelistic setting of yesteryear. My father-in-law told stories of Billy Sunday on the ‘sawdust trail’ in tents like this one, seeking to win people to Jesus.
Of course, when the lad (TobyMac’s son, Judah) steps into that tent, having been chased by some sort of CS Lewis-like ‘hound of heaven’ … and the number changes from 99 to 100, we are thinking about Jesus going out to find that solitary lost sheep, aren’t we? And the peace that comes over the boy’s visage, as he steps into that tent and catches the eye of the parent-shepherd at the front (well, that is what I think and you probably won’t change my mind!) — and comes home to Jesus.
It is beautiful.
The testimony in it
Empathy is important. I want the Spirit’s help to be better at offering it. I like to receive it. It is so helpful … But there is a time when I don’t want someone to lean forward a little further, listening to my troubles for a little longer. Like when a 56 year old father writes a song in the aftermath of his son dying from a drug overdose. ‘OK, maybe a little empathy at the start — but, please, bear witness to me, tell me your story of God with you in the cold and in the dark. Offer me some wisdom. Speak to me. I’m waiting. Give me some hope. Help lift me out of this hole.’
‘I heard your heart. I see your pain’
The empathy is there.
But wait, there’s more…
‘I’ve lived enough life to say’ … ‘Well I’ve seen my share of troubles’
This is what the song is. He is speaking. He is bearing witness. He is giving testimony.
Let’s give permission to the ‘parent-shepherds’ in our lives not just to listen, but to speak.
Enuf — before I start ruining the song for you.
Let’s finish with the LIVE, in concert version.
(and yes, I have watched all three versions back-to-back-to-back on numerous occasions).
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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Yea – but I wanna know what happened to the cockroach!?
Love it! Might even play it to finish this Sunday's sermon with – Help is on the way! 🙂
The cockroach jumped from the keyboard on to this beautiful piece of art above my desk … and because I daren't do anything to it there, it got away :). :). 🙂
Paul
Go for it, Ken
I'd alternate Phil Wickham's Hymn of Heaven and Tobymac's Help is on the Way from Sunday to Sunday 🙂
Paul
Hearing the backstory on TobyMac's son changed my appreciation of the song. Loved it before. So moved by it now. Thanks.
So true, Ian & Judith … same with me.
I tracked down a few YouTube features where he tells a bit of the backstory. It is very moving — and it is so good to see such transformative theology expressed in such a contemporary way.
Blessings
Paul