All I Did Was Hallelujah
“All I did was worship, all I did was praise.
Hallelujah, you have saved me. Its so much better this way.”
Been getting ready for my Unforced Rhythms of Grace Art Show this week, and amidst all the demands, the invitation to rest from the Lord has been increasing. He keeps making a way when there was no way.
Sautéing carrots and onions, I was recalling my conversation with a friend from the evening before while we were walking around the neighborhood. I was struck by the reality that we do not fully know the rest we long for, or speak of or understand what rest really is. This mystery of rest can only be answered in and through the One who first rested.
The Creator of the universe, the alpha and omega rested from the labor of His hands, His mouth, His work, even His creating.
It must be then that rest is an ancient secret beckoning us to discover it’s intricacies.
A fellow entrepreneur shared her story of the why she works in her life, not just the normal business presentation of what she did. But the why. She unfolded her heart, the place of deep pain in her life was now the place where she longed to bring wholeness to others.
It takes a woman of great strength to be vulnerable in front of others.
It’s funny how God brings everything full circle.
God has been highlighting the color pink a lot to me. There is something about pink that brings such soft vulnerability, yet when I see its color I also seems empowered and strengthened by it vibrancy.
So it is with vulnerability. The invitation to calm and rest that brings out the vibrancy of life.
I think that is another invitation of rest from God. It’s the vulnerability before him to lay down what we do to encounter his face, being to being.
Jesus says,
“Come sit a while with me.”
And we have the permission, (there still remains a sabbath rest for the people of God)
to say to Him in return,
“Let me let go of all these things and reveal my heart to you oh God, let me pause and meet you face to face.”
Not just to encounter the what, but the why.
The why of our life, not just the what.
Not the what of our life’s doings and goings, but the why do we encounter life’s doing and goings. The why that brings the Life to our lives.
And the why comes from the Who.
Because it is the Who that truly transforms our hearts.
Let us rest from the what we do and hear His why’s over us. “Let me tell you why I love you.” “Let me tell you why I care…Let me tell you why…”
I finished with the morning meeting, and headed home, having the deadline of finishing the rest of my photo matching to frames before my art show. I felt the tug of the Lord to make some late breakfast, go outside and lay down in the grass to just soak and be. “Defender” song came to mind and played the Upper Room’s version on youtube while laying in the middle of the burnt grass patch in the shape of a heart on the ground outback my house.
The endless to do’s, the relationships my heart and mind still long to see restored, all slowly began to fade away as I looked up into the sky and let myself be still in His presence.
“When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart”
I bless to right now to pause for 10min, ponder the lyrics below and soak in the song by Rita Springer, Defender.
——
[Verse 1]
You go before I know
That You've gone to win my war
You come back with the head of my enemy
You come back and You call it my victory
You go before I know
That You've gone to win my war
Your love becomes my greatest defense
It leads me from the dry wilderness
[Pre-Chorus]
All I did was praise
All I did was worship
All I did was bow down
All I did was stay still
[Chorus]
Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better Your way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better Your way
[Verse 2]
You know before I do
Where my heart can seek to find your truth
Your mercy is the shade I'm living in
You restore my faith and hope again
[Pre-Chorus]
All I did was praise
All I did was worship
All I did was bow down
All I did was stay still
[Chorus]
Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better this way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better this way
Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better your way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better your way
[Bridge]
When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart
When I thought I lost me
You knew where I left me
You reintroduced me to your love
You picked up all my pieces
Put me back together
You are the defender of my heart
[Chorus]
Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better this way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better your way
Hallelujah, you have saved me
So much better this way
Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better your way
[Outro]
All I did was praise
All I need to do is worship
Lord I will just bow down
I'm just gonna stay still
—
“Hallelujah, great Defender
So much better this way.”
When we enter worship, we lay down our what’s to encounter the Who and His why’s. When we get up again, we now enter our what’s from a place the promised land of worship and rest, not striving. We allow him to fight for us. “Who puts themselves in a position to see God fight for them? Whose trust is that deep?” A writer wrote from She Reads Truth. I can’t get the phrase out of my heart or mind. It’s believing God. Believing he is more than able and more than willing to defend us. David even said, “the battle belongs to the Lord.” 1 Samuel 17:47, and again Beniaiah declared it by the Spirit, in 2 Chronicles 20:15 “This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
He longs to defend us.
I bless you to explore the scriptures mentioned, as well as, Hebrews 3 and 4 about the promise of entering His rest in Christ. Whatever part He highlights, meditate on it, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His invitation of rest to you and His invitation to meet Him face to face to face, worship, and be still, believe Him and trust, the great defender of our hearts.
In the midst of my deadline and to do’s, it didn’t make sense for me to go outside and lay down for 10min or write this for that matter…and yet …what has been the fruit of it? I know it now…
So much more.
There will be more fruit in our lives His way, then our own efforts of striving.
The moment we lay down, we see the Eternal Sky before us.
And it changes things…
Or email me with any questions: photo@crystalpihl.com
——
wait there is more…
Check out digging deeper into the word Hallelujah:
In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hillel.[1] However, "hallelujah" means more than simply "praise Jah" or "praise Yah", as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God. Hallel could also refer to someone who acts madly or foolishly.[9][10]
The second part, Yah, is a shortened form of YHWH, the name for the Creator.[5] The name ceased to be pronounced in Second Temple Judaism, by the 3rd century BC due to religious beliefs.[11] The correct pronunciation is not known, however, it is sometimes rendered by Christians as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah". The Septuagint translates Yah as Kyrios (the LORD), because of the Jewish custom of replacing the sacred name with "Adonai", meaning "the Lord".
In Psalm 150:6 the Hebrew reads kol han'shamah t'hallel yah halelu-yah;[12] the first "hallel" and "yah" in this verse are two separate words, and the word "yah" is translated as "the LORD", or "YHWH". In Psalm 148:1 the Hebrew says "הללו יה halelu yah". It then says "halelu eth-YHWH" as if using "yah" and "YHWH" interchangeably. The word "Yah" appears by itself as a divine name in poetry about 49 times in the Hebrew Bible (including halelu yah), such as in Psalm 68:4–5 "who rides upon the skies by his name Yah" and Exodus 15:2 "Yah is my strength and song". It also often appears at the end of Israelite theophoric names such as Isaiah "yeshayah(u), Yahweh is salvation" and Jeremiah "yirmeyah(u), Yahweh is exalted".[5]
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