The River (by Jordan Feliz)

Some songs just grab my heart and won’t let go. The ones that do often have a blend of truth, melody, and soul-stirring rhythm -- forging into an auditory powerhouse that captivates the soul for Christ. The River by Jordan Feliz is just such a song! I providentially stumbled upon this song today. I couldn’t help but play it over and over again. The same thing occurred at home when I introduced it to my small tribe after dinner. The repeat button was continually pressed as dancing and air-band imitations ensued for the better part of an hour in our kitchen.

Your spiritual -- and physical pulse -- will be quickened for our precious Savior whose work of salvation at Calvary offers to cleanse from the deepest sin, the greatest rebellion, and the deepest bondage. As Jordan says about The River:

“The song itself is an invitation to anyone who hears it—whether they’re stuck in pride and legalism or wallowing down in the mess they’ve made of their lives—it’s an invitation to take whatever we have and to run to Jesus. It’s an invitation to go down in amazing grace and to rise up being made new.”

The simplicity and profundity of this song -- both musically and lyrically -- remind me of precious Scripture passages that reflect the same combination. Read them as you listen to this heart-pounding song, and may its invitation drive you to the river of God’s eternally refreshing and forgiving gospel this weekend!

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High. Psalm 46.4

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple…Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47.1, 6, 12

And in that day

       the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and the hills shall flow with milk,

       and all the streambeds of Judah

shall flow with water;

       and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord. Joel 3.18

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4.10

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4.13-14

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22.1

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Revelation 21.6