NEW SONG: ‘Halfway Empty’ by Matt Redman
Scraping ice from the car windscreen yesterday morning, I turned on the ignition and saw the temperature gauge flash icy blue, revealing a seasonal affective disorder inducing -4.5C. The cold, dark days of January are upon us. It was only 8am and my energy levels were already ‘halfway empty’, a sobering reminder of my feeble frailty. ‘Halfway empty’ is something God will never know and something that Matt Redman in his latest single, has beautifully reminded us of.
Whilst I shivered in the car my heart was enlivened as Matt Redman once again wrung out another beauty from the unquenchable depths of God’s songbook. ‘Halfway empty’ opens with a simple chord with a delicious background of strings – listen out for the cello, it’s soooo good!
Verse 1 focuses on praising God for his…’Forgiveness, your beautiful gift of forgiveness.‘
Verse 2 points us to the loving-kindness and goodness of God. ‘I’m overwhelmed by the goodness of Your heart. oh what an amazing God You are.’
The chorus employs Psalm 23 language…’Cause You give and You give so lavishly, and your grace is not even halfway empty. My cup overflows I have all that I need, still Your grace is not even halfway empty.’
Verse 3 speaks of the blessings of God’s mercy…’Every day Your mercy new, oh what an amazing God are You.’
Musical highlight – The melody is simple and very easy to sing along to. Today I had the phrase “And your grace Is not even halfway empty” repeating in my heart and mind all day – a great ‘January blues’ buster!
Production highlight – The sub bass that comes into the mix at 1:12 on the word ‘blessing’ is a spine tingling, God exalting, piece of mastering genius. I audibly chortled while simultaneously being uplifted to sing about, wave after wave of God’s blessing. Enjoy the sub bass gets bigger throughout the song!
Lyric highlight – The chorus is simple and reminds sinners, that only because of God’s lavish grace can we sing our ‘cup overflows’ in blessing (Ps23).
2 things:
- I’m not sure it is the best song for congregational singing – it’s quite syncopated. What do you think?
- I’d love it to join the dots to mention Christ. I don’t think every song needs to, but with the cup that overflows from Psalm 23, there is an opportunity to allude to the empty cup of wrath that Christ drank?
‘Halfway empty’ is a beautifully produced song, rich with the simple, heart-melting truths of the gospel. God has lavishly loved us in Christ. We are forgiven despite the wretchedness of our sin. You will do well to get this song on loud and sing along as you wake up each morning this week. Sing along in the shower, or on your commute to work; it will point you to the lavish profundities of God’s mercy revealed in Gods Word.
Thank you Jesus – for your lavish grace. “I have all that I need. Still your grace, is not even Halfway Empty’
Thank you Mr Redman – for another beautiful and encouraging song.
We have already added the song to one of our playlists on Spotify 🙂
