With the recent release of the song album, God Meant It for Good, I have had opportunity to share my enjoyment, experience, and burden behind the writing of it. There is a wonderful story behind the album and each of the 12 songs on it that brought me into a further enjoyment of God’s word and the ministry which unfolds it. The ministry on these matters in Genesis are so profoundly experiential, that I would be pleased to share my testimony of the inspiration for the album in a series of blog posts, each covering a song on the album as well as this blog covering the enjoyment, experience, and burden behind the album as a whole.
It was a morning in March of 2014 when, after having read through the section in the book of Genesis covering the life of Joseph, and having been in the midst of passing through an incredibly difficult personal situation, I felt a deep desire to write a song about Joseph and how he came to realize that although others intended evil for him, God meant it for good.
From that point on I started hearing it all in my head – the melody, the lyrics, and the harmonies. I finished the composition and then worked on the recording of the song with my wife Leslie, who sings backup vocals for our musical duo called Chords of a Man (the name being a play on Hosea 11:4, “I drew them with cords of a man”). Through writing and producing this song, I was able to enter into a rich enjoyment of the latter chapters of Genesis and the ministry on the portions in Genesis covering Jacob’s and Joseph’s experiences of God. With such an abundance of ministry on Genesis, I realized that even this one verse, Genesis 50:20, would make a good theme for an album of songs.
Then about a month later, I was reading articles from the agodman.com website and I was completely captivated by ministry portions covering the matter of becoming a pearl gate in the New Jerusalem based on Revelation 21:21. The portions were so profoundly experiential, encouraging, and fitting to my own personal situation at the time, that I immediately began writing about it lyrically and worked on a melody that was fitting as well.
Cover art for the album God Meant it for Good by Chords of a Man
The finishing of the writing of “The Pearl” coincided with a semi-annual, week long training hosted by Living Stream Ministry that my wife and I typically attend in California. These trainings cover particular books of the Bible, and in June of 2014, we were covering the last section of Genesis. We had already covered the first two thirds in the two sessions prior going back to summer of 2013. But this time, after hearing all the wonderful messages and studying these valuable and heart felt portions about the experiences of our forefathers, I had a feeling that these messages would become the inspiration for the rest of the album.
Upon returning home, I began to dive into the messages that we just heard, and write songs almost weekly starting with Jacob’s Song, then The Birthright, Rachel, Abraham’s Song, Isaac’s Song, Ruth’s Redemption, Joseph’s Dreams, Moriah, Severed from This Age, and lastly, Where Were You.
By December of 2014, all the basic compositions were complete yet they would still undergo various transformations from concept to final product, but what was compelling to me at that time could be summed up by the writings of Watchman Nee from The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 3, Vol. 48: Messages for Building up New Believers (1), Lesson Fifteen on, Hymn Singing. There Watchman Nee says,
Every hymn that is up to the standard must meet three basic requirements. If a hymn fails to meet any of these requirements, it is not a good hymn….First, the words of a hymn must be based on the truth….Second, accurate doctrines alone do not constitute a hymn. A hymn needs to be poetic in its form and structure….Third, in addition to the truth and poetic structure and form, a hymn needs to provide spiritual impact. It must touch spiritual reality. In other words, if a hymn is meant for tears, it should make you cry. If it is meant for joy, it should make you happy. When it speaks of a certain thing, it should make you feel that very thing.
What is God’s Purpose in Dealing with His People?
Thematically, the album, God Meant It for Good, attempts to juxtapose the trials and tragedies of these well-known Biblical historical figures with the glimpses of the realizations that they had concerning God’s eternal purpose as a result of their experiences of God during the trials. In a way it attempts to answer the ever present question: Why does God allow His people to suffer, or what is God’s purpose in dealing with His people? The real answer to that is found in the New Testament revelation through the apostle Paul.
According to First Timothy 1:4, God has an economy. It is a divine purpose or plan to dispense God’s life into his chosen people so that more than anything else that this world could offer they would gain God Himself. Romans 8:28 is instrumental in understanding this concept. It says that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Although it is often misunderstood to mean that if you suffer loss, God will replenish you with something better, the true meaning of the “good” here is much more profound than that.
I remember attending a conference given by brother Ron Kangas back in 1997 in which we heard about this very topic. He shared the true meaning behind this verse. Romans chapter eight follows Romans chapter seven. Chapter seven concludes with the experience of death operating in the apostle because of the fallen flesh, whereas chapter eight is the experience of freedom in the spirit as a result of being one with Christ in the reality of His resurrection. Therefore, in Romans 8:28, the “good” is that we would be brought into resurrection. The “things” in that verse (no matter how painful they may be) exactly match that part of our being that the Lord is trying to resurrect.
To me, this was the most reassuring word I could have heard while passing through trial. I’ve heard it said that the Old Testament is a picture book and that the New Testament contains the captions to the pictures. Given that all the experiences of the figures in the Old Testament are types of our experience as New Testament believers, it would seem fitting that the stories presented here in this album tell our story, and the caption is, “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose,” or to paraphrase the immortal words of Joseph, “what was meant for evil, God meant it for good.”
To hear and obtain a copy of the album, God Meant It for Good, visit the www.chordsofaman.com website or via CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, or Google Play
To get free song downloads from the album, visit the Free Track section.
This is a guest blog post by brother Matthew David Fritz to introduce the history behind putting out his album, God Meant it for Good (which was based on his experience and pursuit of the Lord).
