Sing, Sing, Sing - A Devotional From Anchor Hymnনমুনা

Those Who Have Not Seen

I have my doubts

but you have my heart

Like many of you, I got my start in music singing at church, convincing the volunteer praise band leader to give an eager 15 year old a shot. And it was in those Wednesday night rehearsals and early Sunday mornings I learned and led songs like “Open The Eyes Of My Heart” and “Hosanna Praise Is Rising” from Paul Baloche, and “Your Grace Is Enough” and a few years later “Lord I Need You" from Matt Maher. Before I had my own songs, I had theirs.

When we gathered for the first time as Anchor Hymns, I was put in a writing room with who other than Matt and Paul, two men whose songs had altered the shape of my faith. We wrote “Those Who Have Not Seen” and talked about the apostle Thomas, his struggle to believe, as well as our own.

We wanted to give people a song to sing and a way to profess faith, even if that faith was an ember, for “a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not put out.” (Isaiah 43:3) What shall we do, we who do and don’t believe, who house in the same body our hope and fear, love and doubt? After twenty years of following Jesus it’s no easier to live the unseen reality of God in a world that seems bent on breaking my heart over and over again. I have come close to giving up.

What was true in 2003 is still true now. It’s still songs that help my heart to know, my hands to reach, my feet to take the next step. This song, “Those Who Have Not Seen” feels like a way forward. It helps me imagine the invitation of Christ into the unknown, into the unbelievable, into the world without end, Amen. It is a confession, a profession, a question, and a love letter. I don’t know, and I KNOW. And as often as I have tried to fling faith off my shoulders, Jesus in his stubborn mercy still clings to my side.

By Taylor Leonhardt of Anchor Hymns