Matt Maher Shares the Inspiration Behind "Your Love Defends Me"
Music
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In a time where we feel we need to do more and more, and end up spending less time just being still before God, Matt Maher tells us through his song, "Your Love Defends Me", that there are more mountains moved when we are simply still.
Here's how Matt translates to his song, "Your Love Defends Me".
Echoes, the studio record from Matt Maher (Essential/Sony) where "Your Love Defends Me" comes from, is a collection of declarations in the midst of dealing with human suffering. After writing most of the songs for the record, Maher lost his father, and “Echoes” took on a whole new personal dimension for the artist. “Worship music paints with broad strokes for large groups of people, that stem from intimate stories and experiences; the challenge, as a creator, is to somehow let the former come out of the latter.” In his own moment of loss, Maher found himself processing his grief from the truths and declarations in the new songs. “Jesus chose to respond to death by embracing it. By embracing it, He destroyed it. This record became, for me, my response to sin and suffering. I had to formulate my own echo. I had to decide if I was going to echo the message of the cross back to the world, or my own narrow view of suffering.”
The record beautifully showcases the tension of worship in the midst of suffering while still being able to speak and sing of the glory of God. For all of its focus on the human condition of suffering, “Echoes” is not a sad record. “What A Friend,” Maher’s spin on the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” is an exuberant track filled with joyous hand claps and gang vocals just this side of a party. There’s joy weaved throughout, a joy that can only be found in knowing and being known. “I’m totally understood in the heart of God. He understands me. The more I know that God understands me, the less I need the world to.” You can hear Maher’s found freedom on tracks such as “Your Love Defends Me,” “Holy” and “As Good As It Gets,” where Maher writes about enough being all you need. “The phrase ‘as good as it gets’ can sometimes swing negative, but in this sense, it’s a picture of enough. God’s grace is enough.” It’s a running theme on “Echoes," marrying praise with suffering, adoration with sorrow, joy with loss.
