Song Story: Holy God:
By Brian Doerksen

Song Story: Holy God:
Renowned worship leader/songwriter Brian Doerksen dives into the passion and the pursuit that flows out of our ‘thrice holy’ God.

As I withdrew to pray for direction in the first days of the New Year, I was surprised by a strong and burning desire for the holiness of God that filled my heart, and a strong sense that change—even rapid change—was just around the corner.

And as I reflected on what is happening with worship music around the world, one of the desires that grabbed hold of my heart was the longing for music to help us return to God, that our focus would be less on ourselves and more on God. I was drawn to the book of Revelations where it describes the worship that is going on constantly in heaven, and in the center of this worship is the declaration that is going on forever: the ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’. It’s as if the angels, saints and all the heavenly creatures know that holiness is the very core of who God is. Everything about God emanates from his holiness, and every action of God is motivated by his holiness. For even love without holiness can become ‘man-centered.’

Listen to audio and download FREE chord charts from Holy God featuring Brian Doerksen.

And so I dove into the ‘holy, holy, holy’ and was amazed at how deep the well of his holiness is. It’s something that we will continue to explore for all eternity. As I meditated on the scriptures, I realized that I wanted to sing it. Actually ‘want’ is too weak of a word: I had to sing it! So I spent some time singing every ‘Holy’ song I could think of, and they all were good, but they didn’t quite satisfy my hunger to sing the ‘holy, holy, holy,’ what the theologians call the ‘trisagion1’ the ‘thrice holy.’ And so I walked over to my piano and began to sing those words with a new melody, like a simple chant. And pretty soon I was in tears as I sensed the presence of God. For the first few days all I sang was the chorus part, just the ‘holy, holy, holy God’ and it was all I needed. Then after a few days, I realized that I wanted to declare the core of his character and I wanted to answer the question, “What are the actions of a Holy God? So I began with ‘creating, commanding . . .’ and as soon as I had those two words I knew I was heading in the right direction. I then set out to write three verses declaring the actions of God. Verse one is about God as the Creator, the transcendent one who is a warrior—not in a vengeful way—who defends his own out of love.

Verse two is all about the incarnation. God is our creator, but he saw that we were separated from him due to our sin, so he sent a redeemer, one that is for every tribe and tongue all over the world.

Verse three answers the question ‘To what end does God create and then redeem?’ This is one of the places where it gets surprising. Our Holy God is all about relationship. He is the one who ‘romances’ us.

When we think of a ‘Holy God’, we would think he would keep his distance from us and our polluted world. I think one of the most amazing things about God is that this God who is perfect and holy draws near to us to forgive, redeem—even to the point of sending his only Son, the nail scarred Lamb, to pay the price for our rebellion. But He doesn’t stop there! His goal is not just for our forgiveness, so we can become his loyal subjects and servants. Our God has the heart of a husband2. God is actually ‘romancing’ us!

When I use that word ‘husband,’ I am not referring to the sweet, selfish, sentimental concept that is popular in our culture. I use the word in the biggest, grandest God sense. God is the one who is drawing us, inviting us, and lavishing us with expressions of love and kindness—just look at the beauty of creation all around us even in its fallen state! God is courting and romancing us with one aim, so that we may freely return that love and become devoted lovers of God. He is the one who created ‘romance’ which is intended to be rooted in the ‘forsaking all others’ union of marriage, a source of blessing and revelation.

As a lover, God pursues us and reclaims us, not to use us and leave us, but to restore us to our created purpose. And then He sets us free in our hearts to live transformed lives, which bring life, not only to ourselves but all those around us. The more we focus on who God is and on His holiness, the more we become who we were meant to be.

At the end of the song, I chose to use the image of “The Lion’s mighty roar” because I wanted us to be clear that the one romancing us is not someone small and cute that we can control (like a domesticated house cat). The one who is drawing us is awesome, intriguing and fully in charge (like C.S. Lewis’s Aslan). Our love relationship with God will never be tame and safe because we can’t predict and control Him—He is after all HOLY,HOLY,HOLY!—but we can trust our great Romancer because He is good.

Footnote 1:
The word ‘trisagion’ is from the Greek tris- (three) + hagios (holy). It is pronounced “tree-sah-yon.” A ‘trisagion’ is defined by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary as “a hymn to, or invocation of, God as the thrice holy.” Literally, ‘trisagion’ means “thrice holy.”

Footnote 2:
Jeremiah 3:14, Jeremiah 31:31,32, Hosea 2:16, 2 Corinthians 11:2