01Read along
The study behind the song
Built on Psalm 2:8, Psalm 73:25–26, Psalm 73:25, Psalm 73:26, 2 Timothy 4:6, and Philippians 2:17.
The Wilderness Cry tells the story of David Brainerd, the young missionary to the native tribes of the American wilderness, and builds it on two psalms that shaped his life. In Psalm 2, the Father speaks to His anointed King: "Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth Your possession." The first verse shows Brainerd, sick with tuberculosis, praying through the night on the forest floor for the Susquehanna people. He holds God to that promise and then sees the Spirit melt hardened warriors.
The second verse turns to Psalm 73. There Asaph confesses, "Whom have I in heaven but You?" and finds that though flesh and heart fail, God is his portion forever. Brainerd died at twenty-nine, yet the journal Jonathan Edwards published showed the church a life that lived those words.
The chorus borrows Paul's picture of being poured out like a drink offering. In keeping with the album's view of history as a contest for the nations, it presents one lonely intercessor's hidden prayer as part of God reclaiming forgotten territory.
02Sing along
Lyrics
Lying in the cold woods... coughing blood onto the snow.
Interceding for the forgotten tribes of the wilderness.
Consume me, Lord.
David Brainerd rode his horse through the damp New England trees
Suffering with tuberculosis, falling down upon his knees
He didn’t seek for earthly wealth, he didn’t care for human fame
He just wanted the native souls to know the Savior's name
He spent his nights in agonizing prayer upon the forest floor
Interceding for the Susquehanna, knocking on the heaven's door
He quote the words of David that had set his soul on fire
The ultimate inheritance of the Father’s true desire:
"Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance" today (Psalm 2:8)
"And the ends of the earth Your possession" in every single way! (Psalm 2:8)
He watched the Holy Spirit fall upon the wigwams in the night
Melting hardened warriors beneath the gospel's piercing light!
Oh, pour me out like a drink offering into the wilderness!
Reclaiming the forgotten territories in their deep distress!
The cosmic powers of the forest have to break and bow their knee
As the lonely intercessor fights the fight we cannot see!
He died at twenty-nine, his physical body broken down
But the journal that he left behind would shake the missionary crown
Jonathan Edwards watched him die and wrote his story plain
To show the church the power of a life poured out in pain
Brainerd lived the scripture that had anchored all his youth
Walking in the wilderness to demonstrate the truth:
"Whom have I in heaven but You?" his lonely soul would cry (Psalm 73:25)
"And earth has nothing I desire besides You" beneath the sky! (Psalm 73:25)
"My flesh and my heart may fail" in the winter cold and grim
"But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" in Him! (Psalm 73:26)
Farewell, temporary world.
The wilderness is screaming His name.
The nations are being gathered.
Even from the woods.
03Keep listening