Video: I will thank God he's my Savior

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Stephen M. Miller wrote the song "I will thank God he's my Savior" immediately after reading the last words of a prophet. God had just told Habakkuk that invaders would take everything. And they did, erasing Israel from the map. The prophet was never heard from again. But his last words remain haunting, challenging, and inspiring.

STORY BEHIND THE SONG

   • I Will Thank God He's My Savior    

LYRICS

When the fig tree fails to blossom, the grape refuses to grow, when the olive dies in the treetops, the field is scorched here below, when the sheep are taken from us, the cattle are gone from the stalls, what is left to the measure of life? What should we do when we fall? CHORUS I will thank God, he’s my Savior. He gives me the strength to go on. He gives me the sure-footed speed of the deer, To higher ground he leads on. When the child in me is broken And I fail at what I would do, Angry, ashamed and uncertain, Not a hint, not a hope, not a clue. When I lose my sense of direction, I can't find my way back to you. When questions don't seem to matter to me, What is there left here to do? CHORUS x3

WHY I WROTE THE SONG

I’m paraphrasing the entire Casual English Bible. I have just a few books left. There’s one little section in the Bible that inspired this song...in a really odd way. I was finishing the Bible book of Habakkuk--a book most Christians probably never heard of--and I did something I’m embarrassed to admit, because it's strange. I was so moved by what the prophet said in his prayer that I got up from the desk, in the middle of the workday, and I ran down to my media room, and wrote this song. The core of the lyrics comes from Habakkuk 3:17-19. I can’t sing very well. I can manage some songs, but I can't do justice to this one. So, I gave it to my daughter who can sing; she has a beautiful voice. A few weeks later, I was walking her second-grade son home from school and I asked how the song was going. He said "Terrible." I asked if it was the lyrics or the tune. He said, "Both. You need to start over." The kid is a short second-grader. And he's looking up at me and telling me that? I started laughing. Well I couldn’t leave it. So, to bring the song to life, I hired a group of New York City musicians whose real names I’m not able to use because of the contract they have with the music producer. So, the names of Gabe & Michela are pseudonyms, and a tip of the hat to a couple famous angels. I wrote the song. But another man and a woman sang it, backed up by a band and a gifted sound engineer. In Habakkuk’s book, God tells him invaders are coming. They will destroy the farms and vineyards, take the livestock, level the cities, kill many of the people of Israel, and send the survivors into slavery or exile. Israel disappears from the world map. And we never hear from Habakkuk again. But his response lives on. It’s what inspired this song, because it inspired me. I hope it does the same for you.