Our New Song Demo Will Remind You Where Your Help Comes From

My six year old niece loves to sing. Since I know she loves to sing, and since I long for her to know Christ and understand His great love for her, I wrote several children’s worship songs primarily with her in mind. She and I have had some profound conversations about the reality of God’s presence and concern for our lives. Probing these matters from the perspective of a child has transformed my way of thinking about and relating to God. He did say to come to Him as children, after all. And most of us forget how to do that when we grow up. Thank God for children and all that He teaches us through their little hearts and minds!

Bobby and I set out to write several songs that would help Jayli and other kids understand who God is, what He’s done for them and why and how we should praise Him. We looked to the Psalms for inspiration and instruction as we sought the Lord in writing these children’s songs. We tested these songs out with Jayli to see if she bought them. Did she relate to the questions and answers we were singing about? Did they speak to her heart? Were the songs easy for her to remember and sing along with? Did we help her connect with the gospel?

I remember praying specifically that God would help us to write songs that would help her to know Him. I believe He graciously answered that prayer as I’ve witnessed Jayli singing along and memorizing most of the kids’ songs we wrote. We put them on a little mp3 player for her and she loves listening and shouting along (since she turns the volume all the way up!). One of her favorites, based on Psalm 121 and all of David’s psalms of petition, is also one of my favorites because it reminds us where our help comes from at all times, but especially when we need to be reminded most, on our darkest days. The first verse and chorus go like this:

When everyone’s against me, and I can’t do what is right,
When I’m in a lot of trouble, and afraid to sleep at night,
Help me think of You as I looked toward the sky;
I know where my help comes from:

JESUS! I need you to forgive me.
JESUS! I need You to protect me.
JESUS! Oh, I need You to heal me.
I know where my help comes from!

You can download the “I Know Where My Help Comes From” chord sheet here and use it in your church services. And listen to the demo on Sound Cloud here:

We sing this song almost every time we’re together—in the car accompanied by the demo, at home accompanied by the piano, or just a capella! And I wish you could see Jayli’s face and hear the conviction of her voice as she declares aloud, “I know where my help comes from: JESUS!” She’s getting it! And she’s helping me to get it again and again and again.

We all have moments, days, months and sometimes years where we feel like we’ve been left without help. We think we’ve been forgotten by God, abandoned to our failures and sufferings. We may find ourselves in a lot of trouble, or afraid to sleep at night. We may have been bullied and hurt by others. We might feel like there’s an army hunting us down. We’re often sad, sick and lost, just hoping to be found. Do we know where our help comes from?

Music is a powerful tool for remembering. And the gospel is something most worthy of remembering because of its power to save and deliver and encourage and bring life and light to death and darkness over and over again. It’s something we need to remember from the time we first begin to understand that we are broken, living as foreigners in a broken world where we are all in desperate need.

For those of us who’ve placed our hope in Christ, the Living Word, we should know with certainty that our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. The Lord Himself watches over us. The Lord stands beside us as our protective shade. He keeps watch over us as we come and go, both now and forever.

Top photo courtesy Sojourn Church Communications Intern Chelsey Scott

Tagged as: demo, I Know Where My Help Comes From, Psalm 121, psalms, Soundcloud