Here I Am To Worship
A favourite modern worship song by Tim Hughes – inspired in part by Philippians 2, and in part by a Stephen King movie. Who among us hasn’t sung Here I Am To Worship in church these last 25 years?
As a young musician in church, I really cut my teeth on the great worship songs of the 90s and 2000s. Now I know this channel typically focuses on the classic hymns, but once in a while I want to do a modern classic, as I'm calling it - one of the very popular songs of that era. Just last Sunday, I sang the song, so I thought I would do it.
Here I Am to Worship. I can't even count how many times I must have sung the song over the years. This was a real favourite when I was growing up, and I still love it. We still sing it in church. It's one of those - when you bring it out, everybody gets into it because it's familiar and it just is so simple and beautiful to sing.
Let me tell you about it, but please share your stories and your memories of the song. Where did you learn the song and what has it meant to you in your life? Please share those sorts of things in the comments. I love to read what you have to share. As always, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Maybe share this with a friend - maybe they'll enjoy this video.
The Story Behind "Here I Am to Worship"
Tim Hughes is one of the great worship leaders of this generation. He was born in 1977, just outside of London, and his father being an Anglican vicar, he knew church. He knew church well and learnt about church ministry and about music in church from a young age.
He was 11 when he went to a Christian conference and was deeply moved by the people around him worshipping. He had a moment with God, surrendered to Him, and his life was changed for ever after that. Tim's journey as a worship leader was deeply influenced by the Soul Survivor festivals, which were arranged in Watford in the UK by Matt Redman and by Mike Pilavachi.
He began leading there at about the age of 19, and it was around this time that this song started to take shape. Tim Hughes was busy reading Philippians 2, which is a great section of Scripture explaining how Jesus humbled Himself and came to earth, and how we should have the same attitude as He does. As he read, he was moved by this description of the humility of Jesus.
Listen to his own words in an article with Premiere Christianity: "I began, as often we do, to worship out of response to that. I began with these words: Light of the world, You step down into darkness, opened my eyes, let me see. I also had that tag: I would never know how much it cost to see my sin upon the cross, but I could never, ever finish the chorus. I got more and more frustrated. When I get to that place, often what I do is park the song and move on."
Tim got to this place and he just put the song aside and moved on. I've done that myself many times. I've got all these little fragments of songs lying around, and I'm sure any songwriter knows what it's like to get stuck on a song. You love what you've got, but you can't go any further with it.
A few months later, Tim was going to the movies and he decided to go see The Green Mile, which is a Stephen King film. The theme of sacrifice in this film - one person sacrificing themselves for someone else or taking the punishment that belonged to someone else - just brought this back up into his mind about how Jesus did this for us.
He brought the song back out and started working on it again. He struggled. He still couldn't get it. He wrote a bunch of bad choruses that he hated, but then eventually he came up with this chorus that we love so much. This is what he says about it: "I wanted the chorus to be a response to our Lord's amazing sacrifice. I began to ask, how are we going to respond to that great happening? Do we bow down? Do we scream out? How do we say 'You're altogether lovely, You are worthy'? Sometimes we don't know how to respond, even though we desperately want to. As I finished the song, I felt as if the pieces had all come together and it was complete."
Here we finally had the song. He took it to Matt Redman, who is his mentor. Matt Redman said, "Not that great. Don't really think much of it." Would you believe that? Again, he put it aside. But some time later he decided to lead it at one of these festivals that he was now leading at. He tried it out and it was a hit.
He recorded the song in 2001 on his debut album. In 2003, it won a Dove Award for the best song of the year. CCLI, the Christian copyright licensing company, has had the song in their top 50, I think, every year since. I read that it's still up there in the top 50 - every year churches just want to play the song because it's so powerful.
Tim Hughes went on as a worship leader, recording and travelling the world, singing his songs. He wrote some other real modern classics as well. In 2014 he was ordained as a priest in the Church of England, and he and his wife launched their own congregation in 2016, where they currently serve as lead pastors.
What a great song and what a great story! God uses these little bits and pieces that we say are nothing, and He does amazing things. It almost reminds me of the loaves and fish that the little boy brought to Jesus. You bring your little offerings, even though they seem to be nothing, and He multiplies them. How wonderfully God has multiplied this song into the lives of believers.
What Do the Lyrics of "Here I Am to Worship" Mean?
Let's take a look at the words. It's a simple song with two verses, a chorus and a bridge - very typical of the songs of our day. Unlike the hymns that are normally covered in Friday Classic Hymns, which are either a verse and chorus pattern, or just a bunch of verses, this is the typical modern song with verses, choruses and a bridge.
Verse 1
Light of the world.
Just stop there. That's Jesus - one of Jesus' own titles for Himself. He said, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." I love how he says, Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness - very much echoing the themes in John's gospel and John's writings about how the world was darkness and the light came into the darkness, but the darkness did not recognise the light. The darkness cannot overcome the light. John's gospel is full of light and darkness talk. The song starts: Jesus is the light of the world, and He came down into darkness.
Opened my eyes, let me see.
I love singing that because that is the story of faith. That's Jesus healing our spiritual sight. How often did Jesus heal a blind man in the Gospels? It turned out to be a kind of a metaphor for how the Pharisees were still blind, and how they didn't want to see. Though they had eyes, they couldn't see. When you come to faith in Christ, it's like your eyes are opened and you see, because the darkness is now shining brightly with His light.
Beauty that made this heart adore You.
He's not only light, but He is beautiful in His character and His person. Jesus is the most beautiful human being that there's ever been, and our hearts adore Him as we see Him in His majesty and beauty.
Hope of a life spent with You.
I love this last line of the first verse. We see this light and this beauty come into our dark and dreary world, and our hearts adore Him. We have this hope that we can be part of this. We can live a life with Him. Is your life spent with Jesus or is He just an idea? He wants to spend life with you.
Chorus
Here I am to worship.
This is a beautiful phrase. It's just opening yourself up. You know what's interesting is that phrase "here I am" is often used in Scripture and in songs about leaving worship now and going - "here I am, Lord, send me" - right? Isaiah saying, "Here I am, send me," and all sorts of other biblical characters. "Here I am, send me." But here he's saying, "Here I am to worship," and this is why we go to church. Yes, we need to go into the world and do His will, but we need to go to church to worship. Not that you can't worship anywhere else, but you need to take those times of joining with other Christians and saying, "Here I am," and we're here together to worship.
Do you offer yourself in worship every week? Is that how you view your time in your church, saying, "Here I am, offering myself to worship You"?
Here I am to bow down.
To bow in Your presence humbly and with great reverence. Do you bow? Sometimes when you pray and when you sing, that's a very powerful thing to actually bow the head or bow on your knees.
Here I am to say that You're my God.
It's a statement of faith. I'm going to say it, declare it. It reminds me a little of Paul's words in Romans about how those who confess with their mouths and believe in their heart that Jesus is raised from the dead, they will be saved. He's saying, "I'm confessing it. I'm saying it - that You are my God, that I believe in You." It's a great statement of faith.
You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me.
I love that "altogether." Not just partly, but completely lovely. Worthy of our love. Altogether worthy - just worthy of our praise. Altogether wonderful. Is Jesus wonderful to you? Do you think of Him and just your heart soars because you know who He is? He is wonderful to me. I hope He is to you too.
Verse 2
King of all days, oh so highly exalted.
King always, not just King one day in the future, but King now - King right now.
Glorious in Heaven above.
He was King in all days past. I think that's maybe what he's saying here. He was King in all the days past and highly exalted in Heaven - glorious.
Humbly You came to the earth You created.
Yet humbly He came, going back to Philippians 2. He came humbly to the earth that He created.
All for love's sake became poor.
Why did He do it? For love's sake. He loves us. He wants to save us. He wants to care for us. He wants to see us thrive because He loves us. He came down to the earth He created and became poor. You have this contrast of the high and exalted Glorious One coming down and becoming poor. That is the incarnation. Jesus did this for you and for me. Hallelujah that He would do this for us!
Then we normally sing the chorus again.
Bridge
I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.
I love this line. I love this little section to sing. It reminds me that the cross cost Jesus everything. It cost God the Father everything to send His Son, to send one of the Trinity to be killed on a cross. Do you often think about how much it cost? Or do you just take what happened on the cross and put your faith in it? That's great. Sometimes you need to stop and think about just what it cost Jesus. Because it wasn't just a quick and easy death. He died in great agony in our place.
Oh, thank You Jesus, for dying on that cross. Ponder this - ponder how it cost Him everything, that it cost God everything and how it cost us nothing. It cost us nothing. The good news of the gospel is it doesn't cost you to have your sin taken away. I hope you know this today, and I hope that you have taken your sin to God and said, "I know that You've paid the price. It cost You everything, and I want to benefit from what You have paid. Please save me."
If you've never done that, do it. Take your sin to God and say, "It cost You everything. It cost me nothing. Thank You. Please wash it all away," based on what Jesus did, not on what I did. The cost was so great, but He did it anyway.
Conclusion
I love the song. What words do you love in this song? Is there a part where, when you sing it, it just touches your heart? Or maybe there's words today that jumped out at you. Share in the comments below, please.
Before we sing, just thank you. Thank you for supporting my work. I'm so grateful for those of you who graciously donate through Patreon or PayPal for the time I spend here in the studio. It helps me to get video editors on board to free me up to go and pastor the church that I'm here serving. Your help is really priceless to me. Thank you.
If you're looking for more inspiration, check out my daily devotions for encouragement throughout the week.
References
History of Hymns: Here I Am to Worship - UMC Discipleship
Here I Am to Worship: The Story Behind Tim Hughes' Chart-Topping Worship Song - Premier Christianity
Story Behind the Song: Here I Am to Worship - St. Augustine Record
