Track 7 on The ❤️ Of Missions
God of the Inland Spaces
Built on Isaiah 49:12, Mark 16:15, and Psalm 37:5
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The study behind the song
Built on Isaiah 49:12, Mark 16:15, Psalm 37:5, John 4:14, Matthew 9:38, and Romans 11:17.
Written from the heart of Hudson Taylor, this song follows a missionary who refused to stay on the comfortable coastline and pressed into China's deep interior. The verses walk through his story as the lyrics tell it: adopting the clothes and hair of the people he served, enduring critics, famine, grief, and the Boxer Rebellion. Through it all he held to two promises. One is Psalm 37:5, "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act." The other is Jesus' word in John 4:14 about water that becomes a spring welling up to eternal life.
The chorus reaches back to Isaiah 49:12, where the nations stream to God even "from the land of Sinim," long read as China. Within the album's Deuteronomy 32 picture of nations once handed over to lesser powers, the song hears the Great Commission of Mark 16:15 as God reclaiming distant peoples, grafting them into the covenant vine of Romans 11. Its closing line sums up Taylor's conviction: God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies.
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Lyrics
Moving inland... past the comfortable coastlines.
Deep into the heart of the disinherited empire.
Trusting the Master of the Harvest.
Hudson Taylor packed his bags, left the British shore behind
Adopted the clothes and the hair of the people he went to find
The religious critics mocked him, said his methods were too wild
But he saw millions dying without the gospel of the Child
He didn’t ask for human funds, he didn’t lean on human script
He looked at the Great Commission and his soul was fully gripped
Go into all the world, the Master’s voice was clear and loud
To plant the standard of Yahweh beneath the oriental cloud
He took his stand on the word that never shifts or fades away
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act today
He knew if God was sending him, the supply would surely flow
Into the deep interior where the lost souls didn’t know!
He’s the God of the inland spaces, God of the hidden tribe!
Reclaiming the distant nations that the ancient texts describe!
Break through the coastal barriers, let the true light shine
Reclaiming the land of Sinim for the holy covenant vine!
Through famine, sickness, grief, and the Boxer Rebellion flame
When his wife and children died, he still confessed the Holy Name
He didn't lean on his own strength when the dark waves started to rise
He looked at the faithful promises with tears inside his eyes
He held to the words of Jesus when the pressure started to mount:
Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst, that's the count
The water I give him will become a subterranean spring inside
Welling up into eternal life where the deep waters abide!
He broke the territorial grip over the ancient East
Bringing the outcasts of the earth to sit at the Master's feast
A wild shoot from the West, laying his body in the dirt
To see China’s millions healed from the ancient cosmic hurt!
He’s the God of the inland spaces, God of the hidden tribe!
Reclaiming the distant nations that the ancient texts describe!
Break through the coastal barriers, let the true light shine
Reclaiming the land of Sinim for the holy covenant vine!
God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies.
No human weapons.
Just absolute faith.
Moving inland.
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