Bad worship songs: Highlands (Song of Ascent)

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a good worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned? We think an excellent worship song should contain as many as possible of the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Scripture quotes or coherent allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness

Further, a worship song should not:

• contain lyrics that create uncertainty or cause confusion
• be excessively metaphorical
• be excessively repetitive
• imply that Jesus is your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with today's song, "Highlands." 

Audio link.

Lyrics

VERSE 1
O how high would I climb mountains
If the mountains were where You hide
O how far I’d scale the valleys
If You graced the other side

VERSE 2
O how long have I chased rivers
From lowly seas to where they rise
Against the rush of grace descending
From the source of its supply

PRE-CHORUS 1
In the highlands and the heartache
You’re neither more or less inclined
I would search and stop at nothing
You’re just not that hard to find

CHORUS
So I will praise You on the mountain
And I will praise You when the mountain’s in my way
You’re the summit where my feet are
So I will praise You in the valleys all the same
No less God within the shadows
No less faithful when the night leads me astray
You’re the heaven where my heart is
In the highlands and the heartache all the same

VERSE 3
O how far beneath Your glory
Does Your kindness extend the path
From where Your feet rest on the sunrise
To where You sweep the sinner’s past

VERSE 4
O how fast would You come running
If just to shadow me through the night
Trace my steps through all my failure
And walk me out the other side

PRE-CHORUS 2
For who could dare ascend that mountain
That valleyed hill called Calvary
But for the One I call Good Shepherd
Who like a lamb was slain for me

BRIDGE
Whatever I walk through
Wherever I am
Your Name can move mountains
Wherever I stand

And if ever I walk through
The valley of death
I’ll sing through the shadows
My song of ascent

PRE-CHORUS 3
From the gravest of all valleys
Come the pastures we call grace
A mighty river flowing upwards
From a deep but empty grave

One of the first questions we ask about a song is, what is it about? For this song, it's difficult to say. This song is either profound or impenetrable, perhaps both at once. The lyric contains an large amount of metaphor and too little accessible worship. As poetry it is noteworthy, as a congregational song it borders on clumsy. It almost feels like the songwriters were looking for new and clever ways to express their ideas. 

And it doesn't take long for them to get mixed up. 

Verse one:

O how high would I climb mountains
If the mountains were where You hide
O how far I’d scale the valleys

If You graced the other side

The theme in this verse, repeated elsewhere in the song, is that it would be worth it to go to extraordinary lengths if God were to be found there. Thus the songwriters talk of ascending mountains and crossing valleys in search of God, but acknowledge He isn't found by doing so. So such efforts are futile. The songwriters, it would seem, would be setting us up to supply the remedy, but they don't really tell us what would be the better thing.

We mentioned the songwriters get mixed up. An example is the opening stanzas, which tell us the songwriters would ascend mountains, but God isn't found in the mountains. Yet the first stanza of the chorus is

So I will praise You on the mountain

 Why is the songwriter on the mountain, when God isn't found there?

The third stanza of the verse reads:

O how far I’d scale the valley

Valleys aren't scaled, because to scale is to ascend. The songwriters actually should cross or traverse a valley. 

Verse two:

O how long have I chased rivers
From lowly seas to where they rise
Against the rush of grace descending
From the source of its supply

The songwriters continue to explain the futility of their efforts to access God's presence, this time by employing a metaphor of going upstream. However, one needs to carefully examine these lyrics to ascertain their meaning. What is it that is "against the rush of grace?" Are the rivers rising against the descending grace? Or perhaps, it is the songwriters themselves, following the river upstream in opposition to freeflowing grace? And again, we find the songwriter on the mountain in the chorus, which suggests that he battled against grace descending.

Or perhaps it is something else. 

In any case, is it inappropriate for a worship song to yank the worshipper out of worship in order to figure out what song lyrics mean. Worship songs must facilitate worship, they cannot be an obstacle to worship.

Pre-chorus one:

In the highlands and the heartache
You’re neither more or less inclined
I would search and stop at nothing
You’re just not that hard to find

The songwriter tells us, you’re neither more or less inclined. Inclined to what?

Chorus:

So I will praise You on the mountain
And I will praise You when the mountain’s in my way
You’re the summit where my feet are
So I will praise You in the valleys all the same
No less God within the shadows
No less faithful when the night leads me astray
You’re the heaven where my heart is
In the highlands and the heartache all the same

Having began with human effort and noted its futility, the songwriters now express their determination to worship God no matter the circumstances. "I will" is a statement of intent. Humans intend a lot of good and noble things. While the songwriters' ambition is honorable, we don't consider the expression of what they are determined to do to be in any way worship. 

A secondary message contained in the chorus is God's faithfulness no matter the circumstance, which is definitely a statement of worship. Unfortunately, the songwriters even make this self-referential (No less faithful when the night leads me astray). Worship should focus on God, not us.

Verse three

We think verse three starts to wander theologically. The first two stanzas:

O how far beneath Your glory
Does Your kindness extend the path

There is no such place that is beneath God's glory:

Is. 6:3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Hk. 3:3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.

His glory, aka, His presence, is everywhere. Further, Jesus came as a lowly man, yet even in humanness He was in His glory: 

Jn. 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (c.f., Jn. 2:11, Jn. 11:40). 

There is no place in creation where His glory is not found.

Verse four

Verse four seems to refer to the parable of the prodigal son (Lk. 15:11-32): 

O how fast would You come running
If just to shadow me through the night

As we know, the parable tells of the wayward son's return, and the father's response at seeing his son returning. However, the song puts the Father as running to be at our sides through dark times, as if He rushes in having not previously been there. This is a completely different concept from the parable. 

We think that whenever Scripture is touched upon, whether it be in worship songs or even in the pastor's preaching, elements should not be added that confuse the story. Worship songs have a secondary effect of cementing concepts in our minds, and these concepts need to be Bible truths.

Pre-chorus two

The song continues in a similar vein, with flowery rhetoric and obtuse imagery:

For who could dare ascend that mountain
That valleyed hill called Calvary
But for the One I call Good Shepherd
Who like a lamb was slain for me

Though the precise location of Golgotha isn't known, this a picture of what is thought to be Golgotha. It isn't really a hill, let alone a mountain. And of course, it does not have any valleys. The songwriters could have written, That storied hill called Calvary, or, That crimson hill called Calvary, or, That troubled hill called Calvary. The point is, if song lyrics are going to be written, why not offer something that contributes meaning to our worship?

Also, a minor point. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11). The songwriter does not get the credit for this.

Pre-chorus three

From the gravest of all valleys
Come the pastures we call grace
A mighty river flowing upwards

From a deep but empty grave

From the previous pre-chorus about Calvary being valleyed, pre-chorus three suggests that Jesus came out of this gravest valley, or that certain kinds of blessings come out of this gravest valley. But what do the songwriters mean by this? How do blessings come out of here? What kind of a valley is gravest? 

"Gravest" means: 

1. Requiring serious thought; momentous: a grave decision in a time of crisis.
2. Fraught with danger or harm: a grave wound.
3. Dignified and somber in conduct or character: a grave procession. 
4. Somber or dark in hue.

We would be at loss to pick an appropriate definition that fits the song's lyric.

And again we find the imagery of the lyrics violate biblical principles:

A mighty river flowing upwards
From a deep but empty grave

First, we should note the songwriters are not using the word "grave" in relation to the word "gravest." From the somber and serious valley the songwriters have pivoted to the place where dead bodies are put.

Second, the Bible doesn't depict a river coming out of Jesus' grave. Rather, Jesus is seated on a throne at the right hand of Majesty in heaven, and the river proceeds from there:

Re. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb...

Conclusion

So although we admire the thought that went into the lyrics, and we particularly enjoy the the pentatonic melody, we do not think the song is acceptable for congregational worship.