‘O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer’ is one of the stand-out tracks from Sovereign Grace Music’s Prayers of the Saints album and has been quickly winging its way into churches around the globe. If you’ve not come across, it’s rich lyrics and soaring melody mean it’s well worth introducing to your congregation.

For a start, it’s a song about God. That might sound obvious, but there is something of a modern tendency to sing about our response to God. This is countered here with some beautiful lyrics that display the nature and character of God, as seen in verse one:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Greatest treasure of my longing soul
My God, like You there is no other
True delight is found in You alone
Your grace, a well too deep to fathom
Your love exceeds the heavens’ reach
Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom
My highest good and my unending need

Secondly, the song is grounded in the messy realities of the Christian life. The song has a simple three-verse hymn-like structure, with verse two describing how God’s nature as our ‘Rock’ and ‘Redeemer’ particularly makes a difference when life is hard:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Strong defender of my weary heart
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver
And my shield against his hateful darts
My song when enemies surround me
My hope when tides of sorrow rise
My joy when trials are abounding
Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night

Thirdly, it is gospel rich. God’s love isn’t vague or abstract, as can sometimes be the case in some contemporary Christian music. Instead, verse three anchors us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This verse also begins with some alternative minor chords that add some fitting variation, before an epic repeat of the second half of the verse:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Gracious Savior of my ruined life
My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders
In my place You suffered bled and died
You rose, the grave and death are conquered
You broke my bonds of sin and shame
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
May all my days bring glory to Your Name

We’ve sung this a couple of times at Grace Church over the last few weeks and it’s seemed super-easy to pick-up. The melody is both very singable – and very enjoyable to sing! Have a listen and give it a whirl. I wondered whether some might enjoy changing ‘my’ to ‘our’ in the repeated opening line of each verse. You can pick up the sheet music and chords here.

Co-written by Matt Boswell & Matt Papa, ‘His Mercy Is More’ has the feel of a modern hymn that celebrates the wonder of the Christian gospel: though our sins are many, God’s mercy is more. Searching verses ponder the depths of God’s grace, through the form of the Christian asking just whether such a majestic and holy God could ever love people like us:

“What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more”

These build into a beautifully simple chorus of response:

“Praise the Lord
His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more”

At Grace Church we’ve recently used this as part of our Genesis series. When faced with the reality of humanity’s cosmic treason in Genesis 3, it is remarkable that God should continue to show kindness to us. The promise of a serpent-crusher and the provision of being clothed through sacrifice point us forward to Christ and remind us that though ‘our sins they are many, his mercy is more’.

The song was actually inspired by a John Newton sermon. Newton, who captured similar themes in his most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, said this:

“Are not you amazed sometimes that you should have so much as a hope, that, poor and needy as you are, the Lord thinketh of you? But let not all you feel discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty, our disease cannot be desperate and if He casts none out that come to Him, why should you fear?

Our sins are many, but His mercies are more: our sins are great, but His righteousness is greater: we are weak, but He is power. Most of our complaints are owing to unbelief, and the remainder of a legal spirit. And these evils are not removed in a day.”

You can download the full song pack here or there are some chords here.

‘O Great God’ has been a popular song in a number of churches I’ve been part of since it appeared on Sovereign Grace Music’s Valley of Vision album back in 2006. Each of the songs on that album are based on prayers from a fabulous book called The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. In particular, ‘O Great God’ comes from a prayer entitled “Regeneration”. The original prayer begins like this:

Occupy the throne of my heart,
take full possession and reign supreme,
lay low every rebel lust,
let no vile passion resist they holy war;
manifest thy mighty power,
and make me thine for ever.
Thou art worthy to be
praised with my every breath,
loved with my every faculty of soul
served with my every act of life.

Reflecting on the way this prayer gives voice to a longing to be transformed by God, songwriter Bob Kauflin has used a simple hymn-like structure to create three verses of rich and heartfelt theology. Verse one begins by asking God to help us love and glorify him more:

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

Verse two then reminds us of the change that has already occurred in the life of the Christian. I love the way it poetically describes the way God regenerates us, giving us a ‘taste for heaven’s joys’ as the Spirit works through God’s word:

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Finally, the final third verse expresses a desire to go on being changed by God. This can be done with a key change, if you can manage that! I’ve found that it’s one of just a few songs that articulates a longing and expectation of a changed life. The second half of the chorus is a joy to sing as we long to praise God with every ‘thought and deed’, through God’s grace:

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me

As a result, we’ve often found it a really helpful song to go alongside either a time of confession, or as a song of response after a sermon. We’ve recently introduced it at Grace Church Barrow, particularly after stumbling across Matt Boswell’s recent recording of the track to celebrate 30 years of Sovereign Grace Music. You can find chords, full lyrics, and sheet music to download freely here.

If you’re interested in hearing more from Sovereign Grace Music, you can download a free 8 track sampler by signing up to their email subscription list on the homepage here.