Worship Song Analysis : ABIDE

From the different acts of worship, my personal favorite is bringing praise to the Lord through music and song. It gives me great delight in expressing our adoration and reverence to God as a congregation through songs whose lyrics are beautifully written through Scripture.

One worship song that I would like to highlight and dive into in this article is the song, “Abide”. It was written as a meditation on John 15, but with deeper analysis, we are able to discover other Bible verse references, most notably, the book of Psalms and parts of Isaiah.

In John 15:1-11, Jesus commands us to abide in Him and tells us that we can do nothing apart from Him. When he says, “I am the Vine”, it is the last of the 7 “I Am” statements recorded in the Gospel of John. As we are the branches that are connected to the vine, we are totally dependent on Jesus.

The lyrics of the three verses captures this:

V1. For my waking breath, for my daily bread;

for the sun to rise, for my sleep at night,

V2. Where the Spirit leads as I’m following;

for the victories still in front of me,

V3. When I pass through death as I enter rest;

for eternal life to be raised with Christ.

After each line, the same line is repeated again and again, “I depend on You”.

From the things that we take for granted or that we are mindlessly accept and are used to, and to the experiences that we are going through until we take our last breath and enter into life eternal in heaven- these are all possible because of: God, the Creator and vinedresser, Jesus, the Vine from which we receive sustenance and the Holy Spirit, the Helper who guides us each day.

Here is the chorus and the respective Bible references that I personally found:

You’re the way, the truth and the life       (John 16:4)

You’re the well that never runs dry          (Isaiah 12:3, Isaiah 58:11, John 4:14)

I’m the branch and You are the vine        (John 15:5)

Be my strength, my song in the night      (Psalm 77:6, Psalm 118:14, Isaiah 12)

Be my all, my treasure, my prize             (Psalm 16:5-6)

I am Yours, forever you’re mine               (Isaiah 43:1)

I read the last line, “Draw me close and teach me to abide”, as a concluding response and a prayerful plea. This is because, we naturally tend to depend on our own strength and selves. Although independence is viewed as a strength and admirable trait in the world and society we live in, the Lord is requiring us to depend solely on Him.

Abide means to live, to remain/stay, to dwell, to wait on the Lord. Jesus has shown us the perfect example of how He committed in drawing near to His Father in private prayer and time spent with Him. Thus, I encourage you, dear Reader, to embark on your own study and not only to find all the aforementioned verses but also to read the whole chapter that the verses belong to (lest we take them out of context). There is also much truth to glean from these passages, through the circumstances that the psalmist or the author penned these words.

May the Word of Christ dwell richly in you through the meditation of His Word in the songs that we sing to Him as we abide in His presence, in His love and in His joy.

Chanhee