Photo by Jeremy Perkins
British songwriter and Anglican priest Tim Hughes was ordained as a minister in the Church of England and appointed Vicar of St Luke’s, Gas Street Birmingham. He served as the director of worship at Holy Trinity Brompton and currently leads Worship Central, an international worship training and resource center.
He is best known for his hit songs Beautiful One, Jesus Saves, At Your Name, and of course, Here I Am to Worship.
Here I Am to Worship has been covered and popularized by numerous artists, including Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Hillsong, Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Jeremy Camp, Sonicflood, and several others. It won a Dove Award for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year (2003) and was the #1 CCLI for two years in a row, currently in the top 25 list.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
Jesus, who is the Light that came to a darkened, sin-stained earth, paid the penalty for our lawbreaking. He spiritually awakened His followers, who now possess the Holy Spirit and walk in the same light as Jesus. In response to Christ’s great love for us, we respond in prostration, worshipping Him because He is worthy of our praise. Though we cannot fully understand the depth of Christ’s sacrifice, we see Him as beautiful, wonderful, and lovely.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All lines in this song are consistent with Scripture.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
Light of the world
Jesus is light (John 1:1-8, John 8:12, and Ephesians 5:14).
You step down into darkness
He left His throne and glory to enter into a world marred by sin (John 1:14, Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Galatians 4:4, and Philippians 2:7).
Opened my eyes let me see,
That is, a spiritual awakening (John 3:3, John 9:25, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:5, Ephesians 5:14, Titus 3:5, and 1 Peter 1:3). We were once dead in our trespasses, but are now made alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).
Beauty that made this heart adore you
The beauty of Jesus is found in his actions, that while we were sinners, He died for us (Romans 5:6-8). This might also reference Psalm 27:4.
Hope of a life spent with you,
That is, eternal life with God (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4).
[Chorus]
And here I am to worship,
Here I am to bow down,
Here I am to say that you’re my God,
Much like “doubting” Thomas in John 20:28, Hughes falls to his knees in worship, speaking with his heart that Jesus is “his Lord and his God”.
You’re altogether lovely,
That is, beautiful. See Verse 1, line 4.
Altogether worthy,
Jesus is worthy of our praise (Revelation 4:11).
Altogether wonderful to me
See Verse 1, line 4.
[Verse 2]
King of all days, oh so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above,
Jesus (who is God) will rule as the exalted King for all eternity (Exodus 15:18, Psalm 10:16, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 145:13, Psalm 146:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:3, Daniel 6:26, Micah 4:7, 1 Timothy 6:16, 1 Peter 5:11, and Revelation 11:15).
Humbly you came to the earth you created
See Verse 1, line 2.
All for love’s sake became poor,
Jesus became “poor” in two different senses:
- Jesus emptied Himself and traded His omnipresence to become a frail, weak, human being (Philippians 2:7).
- He lived in poverty his entire human life on earth as a nomad (Luke 9:57–58).
He did this because He loves us (John 3:16, John 13:34, John 15:13, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:37-39, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:25, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8, and 1 John 4:16-19).
[Bridge]
I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross
Though not recorded in Scripture, it is nonetheless true. Hughes cannot fully comprehend the cost that perfect, innocent Jesus paid for our sins (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9). Neither can I.
I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross
And I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross
No I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross
Repeats lines 1 and 2.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Hughes’ message of Christ’s sacrifice and man’s response in worship will not be lost on the minds of unbelievers. He uses everyday language and simple concepts that are easily digestible. Anyone with a basic understanding of “cross” will immediately recognize this song as uniquely Christian.
The only thing that might be harder for those outside the camp of Christ to comprehend is “King of all days”. It’s a small thing that has little impact on Hughes’ overall message.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God through its basic Gospel presentation and Christian response in worship.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Tim Hughes’ Here I Am to Worship is an excellent worship song. It promotes Christ’s incomprehensible sacrifice for mankind, causing His followers to fall to their knees and worship Him as our eternal Ruler, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers will find it easy to understand Hughes’ message as he explains concepts using everyday language.
This song exemplifies the act of worship and the reasons why God is awesome. Consider adding this to the corporate worship mix for a nice throwback!
Side note: This might sound strange, but when I worship with this song, I feel that if I sing “Here I am to bow down”, then I ought to bow as I sing it.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Here I Am to Worship (listen to the song)
Artist: Tim Hughes
Album: Here I Am to Worship
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2001
Duration: 5:15
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2001 Thankyou Music (PRS) (adm. worldwide at CapitolCMGPublishing.com excluding Europe which is adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family. Songs@integritymusic.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.
Comments
Pastor Debra A. Whitlock Lax
Regarding the I/We….. while we are called into the body of Christ and become we, the visible church is not comprised of all believers. The “I” – the individuals must testify of his or her purpose in the presence of the Lord. God saves the individual without respect of their presence in a family, a group, or a gathered community. Thus, the lyrics that expresses “I” is very appropriate to ones sense of worship standing before the only True God and Savior.
Steve Barhydt
Just for fun (yeah,I have a weird sense of fun:)) I did a quick study in the only “song book” to be completely Biblical, that is the Psalms.
I was looking to categorize each Psalm how the writer was praising God or calling other to do so
1) as an individual (i,me,he etc.)
2) as part of a corporate worship (us,we,they etc.)
3) both (Starts with ‘I will praise the Lord’ ends with ‘Let all His people praise Him’, or vice versa)
4) neither (doesn’t really mention praying or praise)
Here are the results (Someone else doing the same study would undoubtedly have slightly different results)
1) Individualized – 63 Psalms – 42%
2) Corporate – 52 Psalms – 37.4%
3) Both – 21 Psalms – 14.0%
4) Neither – 14 Psalms – 9.3%
What do these numbers mean to me? Quite simply that the source of the worship is not nearly as important as the Object of that worship.
Whether I sing a song like “Here I am to Worship” in the privacy of my car on the way to work or
standing with fellow believers in a church service the difference is one of scope not intent. Even in a congregational setting we are still, as individuals, worshiping our God. We are just doing so corporately.
A good worship song is, in many ways, a testimony to the goodness and greatness of God. I find that the personalization of that testimony (i.e. I/me) in no way hinders the edifying strength of that testimony to others around me because they, too, are singing I/me.
I’m not opposed to interchangeably singing the I/me’s and us/we’s but I feel no compulsion to do so. Nor do I feel that any worship song that is otherwise Biblical should be excluded (or even discouraged) from corporate use simply because it is individualized.
Vince Wright
Steve,
Fascinating information. You may just change my mind yet! 🙂
-Vince Wright
Neal Cruco
Steve,
Fascinating information indeed! This will be helpful in case I ever hear another Christian criticizing about the use of “I” in CCM. I too have no problems with using testimonial songs or songs that use “I” in worship, because in both cases God is still glorified. Plus, worship is never purely corporate- it is not just “we” who are worshipping, but “I”, and a large group of people singing “Here I Am to Worship” is still a large group of people worshipping God together!
Matthew
I really like this song when it comes along on my Spotify playlist, but I do have one issue with this song, and actually a lot of songs.
When we sing songs in congregational purposes, whether that be in church, conferences or other, I wonder if it is better to sing songs that use words such as we/us over I/me. I get that this is slightly (a lot) nitpicky, but wouldn’t it be best to encourage each other as WE build each other up, instead of building ourselves up?
Vince Wright
Matthew,
Great question! I feel the same way, but I won’t nitpick over it.
-Vince Wright