Blast 'em Out of Their Seats

INTRO TO “SOUL’S DESIRE” (BY ROBIN MARK) AT YVONNE’S FUNERAL - July 16, 2018

This next song, which is a video we’re going to invite you to stay sitting and just sing along to as the lyrics come on the screen, is a pretty special one. Yvonne in her own handwriting back on Nov. 29 2004 set out some “Funeral Wishes and Requests” - at that point, some 14 years ago, she’d already been dealing with the pain and discomfort and complications of this brain tumour for a couple of years. She clearly specified, as she put it, “No organ music droning in the background please...” (Instead, along with the other songs we’re using for congregational singing, quote) “Robin Mark ‘Revival in Belfast II’ CD [turn it up on #9 - blast em out of their seats (smiley) & imagine me singing from Heaven].”

Robin Mark was probably Yvonne’s most favourite musical artist; he’s a Brit, from Northern Ireland, and we’ve had opportunity to see him perform in person numerous times. This song though, called “Soul’s Desire”, is particularly masterfully done. In part, it goes:

Lord of the Earth the sea the sky
In glory and power
How can it be that I’m Your child
And You are my Father...
There’s a flag in my hand
and I am waving, I am waving
waving it for you just to make you smile.

The image here is of a little child, son or daughter, yearning to catch their father’s gaze and know they are pleasing him by such a simple act as waving a flag. Christian faith at its root is about this intimacy with a loving Heavenly Father.

Sin and evil are revolting to a holy God; divine wrath is justifiably waiting to be poured out upon human rebellion and depravity, it’s abominable to the glorious almighty Creator that His Creatures would turn their backs on Him and refuse to honour and glorify Him. That’s the essence of sin – preferring anything else over God, who is all-glorious, perfect, good, holy, beautiful, radiant, and loving. The image a lot of people have of God is some gruff old codger waiting to nail us when we mess up (so they write God off – who could possibly warm up to that?).

But the New Testament and most especially the cross of Jesus change all that. The Good News is that the Father sent the Son to take upon Himself our sin and guilt and shame, suffering in our place so we could be forgiven and ‘put right’ with God, brought back together, the relationship restored and us transformed, given a heart transplant. Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That changes the whole dynamic! Now through faith in Jesus, we can enjoy a loving, warm, intimate relationship with a caring heavenly Father who delights in His children. Galatians 3:26 & 4:6, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus...And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ [papa]”

A little girl, catching that gleam in her daddy’s eye, seeing his smile, knowing he’s pleased with her... Zephaniah 3:17, “He will rejoice over you with singing” – I know nothing would make Yvonne more happy than if one of those listening came to grasp that truth for the first time today.

“You are my soul’s desire,” the song says. Yvonne had to put up with listening to a lot of John Piper’s podcasts in the car with me. His thrust is Christian hedonism, that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” We can fight sin best by seeing and savouring the greatness and goodness of our Lord and Saviour – Desiring God above any other false god Satan might try to entice us with. Paul in prison, preparing himself to be executed if it comes to that, could write to the Philippians in 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Jesus is glorified especially in the hour of our death when it becomes apparent to all around that we prefer Him, we desire Him more than anything this world can offer. As Paul puts it in the next breath (1:23), “having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better”!

So, as we sing, let’s do as Yvonne says, ‘imagine me singing from Heaven’ – at peace, finding pleasure in God’s presence, knowing the Heavenly Father’s delight; “I will exalt Your name again, Most High, every way I can.”