Today, I'm excited to share the stories behind not one, but two of my songs: "You Alone Are King," born on July 24, 1990, and "I Glory in the Wonder and the Majesty," born on July 24, 1991. Both are featured in the live recording "A Mystery of Majesty." Though I've shared them individually before, I want you to hear them together, as they were meant to be experienced.
The story behind "You Alone Are King" is deeply personal. At the time I wrote it, I was struggling with identity issues, feeling as though my life had little worth. This song emerged from focusing on the immense worth that God's redemption has given me. It's a paradox: while my sin made me unworthy, God valued my life enough to sacrifice His Son, Jesus. Jesus saw me as worth leaving the glories of heaven for.
Worship, to me, is all about relationship, and relationship begins in the heart. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of His people. As I meditated on this truth, I envisioned my heart as His throne—a place reserved for Jesus alone. When the music began to flow from these thoughts, I felt God's presence so profoundly, it was as if He was singing His love over me. In that sacred moment, I bowed in worship to my heart's true King. No one else has ever met my needs like Jesus. No one else can cleanse and heal as He can. He alone is my heart's deepest desire and the Ruler—the King of my heart.
Despite living in a world often filled with darkness and disbelief, we can cling to this truth from Romans 14:11: "For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.'" Jesus alone is King, even if the world refuses to acknowledge it. He reigns sovereign, using even what the enemy means for evil for our good and His glory.
Now, let's talk about "I Glory in the Wonder and the Majesty." This song was born from meditating on life's most wondrous moments: a dark evening sky lit up by a shooting star, meeting a long-admired figure for the first time, the joy of a blind man seeing loved ones after being healed, or the overwhelming awe of holding my children for the first time. My oldest son's birthday is on July 22, and as I thought about holding him for the first time, the song "I Glory in the Wonder and the Majesty" was born. These moments fill my heart with wonder and truly take my breath away. Yet, they all pale in comparison to knowing God. To know that Almighty God desires an intimate relationship with me is indescribable. What glory, what majesty, what a blessing!
As 1 Chronicles 29:11 says, "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all."
We often speak of God's grandeur and majesty in terms of its vastness, but the greatest majesty is found in our relationship with Him. Relationship is everything, and our relationship with our Maker is worth everything to us.
Let's never lose the wonder and the majesty of Who our God is and of the massiveness of His amazing love for us. Take that next shooting star as a personal gesture of God’s love for you, like a secret wink from your Father that says to you, ‘I see you and I love you, child.’
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and to hear the songs, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/you-alone-are-i-110759097
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/02/09/18/25/stars-5999463_1280.jpg