This is a warrior’s song, a conqueror’s song. The beat is a slow and steady march, punctuated by dramatic lilting notes that imply that there is going to be a revelation ahead. The background music can be used for a telenovella; it could be what plays during a climactic moment, right before the heroine reveals that she is the twin sister of the antagonist, or something equally plot twisting like that.
“This is my prayer in the desert
When all else within me feels strife
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides”
The opening lines set the defiant mood of the rest of the song. A desert is a place of extremes, a place that does not brook any comfort, a place that calls to mind hardship and suffering. The singer declares that she is in such a harsh environment, and yet calls forth and believes in God despite all that.
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“This is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame“
Here we have more vivid imagery. ‘Fire’ and ‘gold’ and ‘flame’ call to mind shiny, earthy things that ground the song and makes it more believable at the same time. Yes there are trials, yes there is pain, this is something that we already know, these are what we have to go through here on earth before we get to heaven. But if we have faith in God (faith that is “of more worth than gold”), we will have the power to go through all that, and we will be made stronger with the testing.
The fourth line of this second stanza is just very beautiful and poetic for me. If we endure the scalding hot pressure of the fire, we will come out of it pure and refined, and positively glowing!
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“I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and He is here“
More uncompromised, unqualified declarations, signified by repetition. Note also the imagery of weapons, consistent with the rest of the tone of the song, in that they are also forged in fire. The words ‘praise’ and ‘rejoice’ also offer an interesting contrast to the trials and the pains being described by the rest of the song, suggesting a victorious attitude even in the midst of the battle, even in the middle of finding the way out of the desert.
I also like the declaration in that last line. God is here. In the desert, in the fire, in weakness and trial and pain. Not, “God will be there afterwards,” or, “God was there before,” but that He is here already, in the now, in the moment, whatever that moment may be.
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“This is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I’ll stand”
The way I see it, the desert and the fire mentioned before stand for the circumstances in our lives that we have no control over. They are the situations we are in that we cannot help but live with and just pray for, like a health condition, or a family problem. The battle in this stanza stands for situations in which we willingly place ourselves, challenges that we march into, or changes in our lives that we instantiate in the ongoing process of serving Him. Again there is the rock solid certainty of victory, of success in whatever it is that is being attempted, simply because it has already been promised, it is already a given fact, that at the end of it all, we will inherit all the riches of heaven.
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“All of my life in every season
You are still God, I have reason to sing
I have a reason to worship“
Focusing on the positive, the song establishes again that in every situation we are in, at any given time, whether good times or bad times, we always always have a reason to sing and worship.
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Towards the end it hushes up.
“This is my prayer in the harvest
When favour and providence flow“
The paradox is that the triumph of the harvest, in what we are expecting to be a cymbal crashing, drum beating celebratory beat, is treated in a quiet, soothing melody. The tone is of acceptance and submission, and it is beautiful in that the gratitude is there, and the sense of expectancy and belief in a God so great that there was never any doubt that this harvest was coming.
“I know I’m filled to be emptied again
The seed I’ve received I will sow”
I also like this part. The last line is full of repeating sibilants, adding to the overall hushed tone of the ending of the song. After the dryness of the desert comes the torrential rain of the harvest, but the singer knows that this is only in preparation for a time when she will be in need again, that those days of wanting are bound to come again, but also knowing that this is nothing to be worried about. Not that the song was ever implying anything else all throughout, but the ending is hopeful, and even excited to give back, to make her providence grow by giving back and being a blessing to others.