Published September 30th, 2006 by hrabbach
Michael W. Smith - Place in this World
It’s interesting how God sometimes inspires me to think about a song. This one did come quite unexpected, it’s not one of the songs I was considering for an article in the near future. But a friend pointed me to Friday’s watchword from Proverbs 19:21 - I usually read the watchwords in the morning, but because a few days ago she had mentioned it made her think of a particular person, I took an extra good look this time. And that’s when I thought of Michael W. Smith’s “Place in this World”, the one song that made his music known outside the christian subculture. I’ve always liked it a lot because in many ways, I’ve never stopped looking for that “place in this world” and still haven’t quite found it.
The lines I thought of today are in the first verse: “A heart that’s hopeful, a head that’s full of dreams. But this becoming is harder than it seems”. Compare that to the watchword: “The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established”. Yes, my head is full of dreams, my heart is full of hope… but a lot of these things that are on my heart and mind will never become reality because they are not what God has planned for me. As long as I rely only on myself to figure out what to do, I am risking failure if what I come up with is not within the will of God (and to be clear, I believe that God has a broad plan for my life and leaves me quite a bit of room to make decisions, I don’t feel like a puppet on a string at all). But if I ask God first and then make plans according to what He reveals to me, my chances are much better. It often helps to ask God to give us “the desires of our hearts” (Ps. 37:4), but in a different way than most people understand it - not to fulfil the desires we already have, but to give us desires that are compatible with His plans.
And so the song goes on a few lines later… “I need Your light to help me find my place in this world”. What a revelation when we finally understand this - if we look for our place in this world and do not ask God for His light, we will be surrounded by darkness in which it is difficult to find anything. But if we’re willing to ask for His will, He will provide the light we need to find what we are looking for - it may take time and the place may even change over time and prompt us to search again, but we can be assured that we will find a meaningful purpose that goes beyond what our own mind could ever come up with. It’s an adventure… and it’s worth it.
Song: Place in this World
Artist: Michael W. Smith
Album: Go West Young Man
Author: Michael W. Smith, Wayne Kirkpatrick
