WORdSHIP #1: O Worship the King
O WORSHIP THE KING
O worship the King, all glorious above
O gratefully sing His wonderful love
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace
Whose robe is the light and canopy space
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm
You alone are the matchless King
To You alone be all majesty
Your glories and wonders, what tongue can recite?
You breathe in the air, You shine in the light
O measureless might, ineffable love
While angels delight to worship above
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend
—
This may be the song that I’ve been asked about the most over the last several years. And no, it’s not a question of whether ineffable is in fact a real word. (It means “too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words”. Try to use it in a sentence today! BONUS: Try pavilioned!). The discussion is always in reference to the last line of the chorus: “You breathe in the air / You shine in the light.”
Does God breathe? God absolutely, positively doesn’t “breathe” like we breathe and the chorus is not suggesting that. Instead, the lyric is an allusion to God breathing air into the world – being our source, our life. We see something similar when He created Adam according to Genesis 2:7:
“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
He breathes in the air. For His breath is our air. He shines in the light. For He radiates light. He is light. He is matchless.