Anybody else do this sort of thing? There are plenty of people who make horrible mistakes because it may be difficult to pick up on the actual lyrics when listening to a song on the radio. I recently saw an episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he shared failed lyrics to popular songs and it got me reflecting on my adaptations. While most of mine are intended to be funny or flirty there is one lyrical change that I do for the ‘soul’ purpose of it being helpful imagery as I sing.
The lyrical switch that I make is to sing the word ‘throat’ in place of the word ‘soul’. One of the more popular and recurring songs in worship services for the past year has been Matt Redman’s "10,000 Reasons". This song is a perfect place for such an exchange of words because it conveys one of the specific purposes of a throat and soul.
Bless the Lord, O my throat
O my throat
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my throat
I’ll worship Your holy name
Our throat is an important organ of communication. While our throat is not the only way in which we communicate with others it is by all means the first one that we use as little babies crying out. And while our throat is the organ that we use to cry out in our need it is simultaneously the organ by which we receive the very things that we need. Our throat cries out and our throat is the way in which our bodies receive what it needs. This dual purpose of crying out and being filled are two purposes we see connected to an Old Testament understanding of a human ‘soul’. Time and again in scripture we see our souls, our throats, as the vessels crying out to God in our emptiness and singing praise to the God who fills these earthen vessels.
We are thirsty and cry out through our throat.
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.--Psalm 42:1
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.--Psalm 84:2
It is the Lord who fills, refreshes and strengthens this throat.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.--Psalm 23:1-3
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.--Psalm 62:5
Our throats sing praise to the Lord who filled us.
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s--Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.--Psalm 146:1-2
My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul.--Psalm 108:1
What I find most interesting about the use of the word ‘soul’ in the Old Testament is how consistently it is used in the context of weakness and frailty. The soul is in anguish. It is downtrodden and thirsty. It is weary and sorrowful. That is the state of our souls apart from the God who fills us. The sorry and weak nature of our souls is the reason we cry out to God in our emptiness. All praise be to the God who hears those cries and fills us, but he doesn’t just fill us to the brim. He fills us to the point of overflowing and it is out of the abundance of God’s grace that our cries of anguish turn into cries of praise.
Bless the Lord
O my throat
And all that is within me
Bless his holy name
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