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Lyrics:
Who can hold the stars and my weary heart?
Who can see everything?
I’ve fallen so hard, sometimes I feel so far
But not beyond Your reach
I could climb a mountain, swim the ocean, or do anything
But it’s when You hold me that I start unfolding
And all that I can say is
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever’s in front of me
Help me to sing hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever’s in front of me
I’ll choose to sing hallelujah
The same sun that rises over castles and welcomes the day
Spills over buildings into the streets where orphans play
And only You can see the good in broken things
You took my heart of stone, and You made it home
And set this prisoner free
Behind the Song:
'It’s hysterical how this song came about. Ed and I had been working on a “song” (there wasn’t much to it) for a couple of months but were getting absolutely nowhere with it. I think we were both unsettled about it, but couldn’t really figure out what the problem was. We prayed and prayed that God would provide a lyric, provide a vision for it… but still, nothing.
One particular afternoon an over-all frustration—actually, more like irritation-- for this certain song took hold of the both of us, and we decided to dig in deeper to see what we’d end up with. I said something about not liking the pre-chorus… he said the verses weren’t killing him (yes, it has to “kill” us for it to stay)… and when we really thought about it, the chorus still needed something. So we scrapped it.
Defeat could have settled in, but instead we went out on the deck outside of the studio. Waiting for the Lord to give us some inspiration, we sat down with guitars and tried to come up with new verse ideas. I don’t quite remember who it was that had the idea for the verse melody, but from there we started to write a working lyric. And suddenly, the song began to have a heart beat. We still weren’t sure what the chorus should be, so we just focused on the verses for the time being… but then a few hours later while we were recording the new verse, Ed had yet another stroke of genius: “Hey Beth, what if the song was just called… ‘Hallelujah’?” He totally asked me with that smirk he has when he knows he’s just come up with something really great.
“Hallelujah, hallelujah/When the world is in front of me/Help me to sing hallelujah…”
What a journey writing this was. We call it “the Job song.” I love his story—his character of heart actually inspired much of it. I long to have the peace he had in the middle of loss and feeling abandoned by God. I think that’s why it’s so powerful for me to remind myself of God’s sovereign-goodness when a fallen world is standing right in front of me.' - Bethany Dillon
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