In his song, “In the Night My Hope Lives On,” Andrew Peterson has turned Romans 15:4 into poetry and put it to music that will stir the soul. It left me wiping my eyes from the pain of the beauty of hope.
Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Praise God for the mercy that beats in his holy heart.
The song is on the new album, Counting Stars, which you can download, or get as a physical CD. There’s a nice write-up on the album over at Andrew-Peterson.com.
Nashville’s bard of biblical theology himself gave me permission to stream the song here (click through to the site to stream the song – thanks to Josh Philpot for making this possible), and the lyrics are below:
In the Night My Hope Lives On
by Andrew PetersonI am weary with the pain of Jacob’s wrestling
In the darkness with the Fear, in the darkness with the Fear
But he met the morning wounded with a blessing
So in the night my hope lives onWhen Elisha woke surrounded by the forces
Of the enemies of God, the enemies of God
He saw the hills aflame with angels on their horses
So in the night my hope lives onI see the slave that toils beneath the yoke unyielding
And I can hear the captive groan, hear the captive groan
For some hand to stay the whip his foe is wielding
Still in the night my hope lives onI see the armies of the enemy approaching
And the people driven, trembling, to the shore
But a doorway through the waters now is opening
So in the night my hope lives onLike the son who thought he’d gone beyond forgiveness,
Too ashamed to life his head–but if he could lift his head
He would see his father running from a distance
In the night my hope lives onI can see the crowd of men retreating
As he stands between the woman and their stones
And if mercy in his holy heart is beating
Then in the night my hope lives onI remember how they scorned the son of Mary
He was gentle as a lamb, gentle as a lamb
He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried
And in the night, my hope was goneBut the rulers of the earth could not control Him
They did not take his life–he laid it down
All the chains of death could never hope to hold him
So in the night my hope lives onI can see the Son of Man descending
And the sword He swings is brighter than the dawn
And the gates of Hell will never stand against him
So in the night my hope lives on
The grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always brothers. We are a people that comes from afar, with many names, many of persecution, many struggles, but building a beautiful story faith, doctrine and principles. You know the contents of the documents made available by zamos this Portal. We are the people of the Bible, the infallible and eternal Word of God. We believe in God the Father, holy, righteous, creative, and sustainable-export of all things. We believe in God the Son Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord of our lives and souls and God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who guides us in all that Jesus taught. This is the blog> dominguessergio.blogspot.com <Be part of the family on behalf of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ with love, Sergio
Jim, I went to see and listen to Andrew tonight in St. Charles, MO (not too far from my home)… seemed like a theologian or pastor who also could sing and play guitar (truly). His redemptive-historic perspective was remarkable. And I too LOVED this song… hard to decide which of his I enjoyed most, but I REALLY LIKED this one.
We spoke briefly afterwards as I quoted his song, “Faith to be Strong” in Mile Marker 825, something we both wanted to reconnect about. Also, Abby is reading 2 of his books; so that was fun too.
Hope you and yours are well, buddy.
Jason