River Valley Worship has released their "Real Thing" from their upcoming album Altars. In this exclusive guest blog post, the writer shares, "It’s the truth of Psalm 86 that nudged us to write a lyric like 'All I know right now is I’m ready / All I want right now is the real thing Lord.' Somehow it feels declarative without losing the authenticity of where we really find ourselves at times in this life. 'God I know there’s more for me to learn and grow in, and there’s a lot that I don’t know, but I do know one thing... it’s that I need you.' I would like to think that there is a tone of hopeful desperation laced throughout the entire landscape of 'Real Thing.'"
River Valley Worship | "Real Thing" Song Story
Just take a look around at the landscape of modern life as we know it… with all of its luxuries, its intricacies, its challenges, and its beauty. Many of the things that have become so commonplace to us are still, when we pause and reflect, absolute modern miracles. Think for a second, we fly from continent to continent in the matter of hours, through technology we disperse information, art, and thought into the atmosphere and magically at our fingertips we have an audience of hundreds maybe thousands to receive our every musing.
This black mirror that everyone holds in their pockets, backpacks, or purses has changed (and sometimes improved) our day to day lives. But no matter who you are and where you fall on the spectrum of “modern techno magic” we all can agree that the new social/digital platform that most of us participate in has created some challenging realities when it comes to living the life that God has called us to.
It was with this context as our back drop that myself and some of our writers sat down and starting the journey of creating “Real Thing.” Let me be clear, this song is not about how much time we spend on our phones compared to time spent reading our bibles… truly I remember it starting with the following train of thought. The world as we know it has a very clear rhythm that it’s asking us to play along to. It’s a loud and inevitable song and the lyrics go something like “do this and be seen this way, wear this and gain this credibility, say these things and watch people like you for this allotted amount of time.”
For the writers of “Real Thing,” we came into that day tired… tired of the earth song… We wanted to hear Heaven’s tune… We wanted something real, and that’s only found in one place.
Psalm 107:8-9 says “So lift your hands and thank God for his marvelous kindness, and for all of his miracles of mercy for those he loves. How He satisfies the souls of thirsty ones and fills the hungry with all that is good!” The dutch theologian Herman Bavink once wrote, “God and God alone is man’s highest good.” Jesus in such a kind and consistent way is always pursuing his children with a foundational and divine thought…
"I love you and the life I have called you to will be costly but it will always be worth it.”
Somewhere along the way, as my life played out from year to year, I started to believe that God cared about my polish more than my purpose. There was this nagging feeling that somehow a gracious Father only wanted to interact with me when and If I had all my “stuff” in tip top shape, but Psalm 86 reminded me, “But You O God are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love and you never, never quit.”
It’s the truth of Psalm 86 that nudged us to write a lyric like “All I know right now is I’m ready, All I want right now is the real thing Lord.” Somehow it feels declarative without losing the authenticity of where we really find ourselves at times in this life.” God I know there’s more for me to learn and grow in, and there’s a lot that I don’t know, but I do know one thing... it’s that I need you.” I would like to think that there is a tone of hopeful desperation laced throughout the entire landscape of “Real Thing.”
“Even when I’m empty, I will bring an offering, I could never live a life that costs me nothing”
There will be seemingly empty days and costly moments that leave behind traces of the sacred. These are the lines that shape God’s blueprint to draw us closer to him and to bring him the utmost glory. We pray that this song can help align heart and soul to do just that… live for the Real Thing.
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