“Oh, Lord, Your Love” by Caedmon’s Call (and Rich Mullins) & “Step by Step” by Rich Mullins
Oh Lord I give You all I have
But it seems so little
When You have given me so much
I come to You with empty hands
And a heart that’s fragile
You come to me with a wealth of love
Oh Lord your love
Is new with every morning
Your faithfulness
It gets me through the night
You bid me come
You know that I am weary
Your yoke is easy
Your burden is light
And now I sing You songs of praise
But your greatness is beyond me
I know I cannot comprehend
How You ancient of days
Stoop yourself to call me
To be your son, to be your friend
Oh Lord your love
Is new with every morning
Your faithfulness
It gets me through the night
You bid me come
You know that I am weary
Your yoke is easy
Your burden is light
Oh Lord your love
Is new with every morning
Your faithfulness
It gets me through the night
You bid me come
You know that I am weary
Your yoke is easy
Your burden is light
Written by Rich Mullins and Cliff Young
“Step by Step” by Rich Mullins
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
And I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
Written by Beaker
Dear God, I was in church this evening, and there were two times when we knelt to pray that these songs came in to my head, respectively. The first time, I just had the chorus, “Oh, Lord, your love is new with every morning. Your faithfulness, it gets me through the night. You bid me come. You know that I am weary. Your yoke is easy. Your burden is light.” I don’t know where that came from. The readings were about forgiveness, so it wasn’t really on theme with the scripture or the homily, but there it was.
The second time, I knelt down and just started singing, “Oh, God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you. Oh, God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you. I will seek you in the morning, and I will learn to walk in your ways, and step by step you’ll lead me, and I will follow you all of my days.”
Is it a coincidence that Rich Mullins touched both of these songs (as a write and kind of performer for “Oh, Lord, Your Love” and as a singer for “Step by Step.”)? I don’t know. I only knew “Oh, Lord, Your Love” as performed by Caedmon’s Call. When I sat down to look up a video of the song on YouTube I came across a demo of Rich playing the song, presumably years before Caedmon’s Call recorded it. The notes on the verses are different, and I assume Cliff Young’s writing credit comes from lyric changes on the verses. But the chorus is Rich. Just great. And Rich always used to say about “Step by Step” that it is one of just a few songs (maybe the only song?) he ever recorded that someone else wrote–his best friend, Beaker. Rich later added verses to this simple chorus and changed the name to “Sometimes by Step,” but I wanted to go back to the original. Just pure worship.
So I sit here this evening, Father, about to watch a football game, and I give you my worship. Oh, Lord, your love–your forgiveness, your kindness, your peace, your goodness, your faithfulness, your patience, your gentleness, your faithfulness, and your amazing self-control–is new with every morning. Your faithfulness gets me through the night. To quote another Rich song: “Lord, you’re leading me with a cloud by day, and then in the night, the glow of a burning flame. And everywhere I go I see you!” You are my God, and I will ever praise you. I will seek you in the morning, and I will learn to walk in your ways. And step by step you’ll lead me. And I will follow you all of my days.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
