While this absolute gem of an album was released over two years ago now, it has recently climbed the ranks to one of my favourites. I first heard of Hawk Nelson a good 9 years ago. A classmate of mine was showing everyone their song “Letters to the President” which they had just discovered. I did love the song, and I listened to and followed the band for a while. Since then it has been on and off with how much I listen to them, but I never stopped being a fan. I was recently lead to the title track “Diamonds” while clicking around the internet, and I just fell in love. It spoke to me right away, as it relates directly to something that is going on in my life at the moment. I listened to the song on repeat for a few days, before I decided to check out the rest of the album, and boy am I ever glad I did.
The Message
What I love most about this album is not even the sound. The songs are fun, pop/rock tracks that elicit very happy feelings, and they’d be super fun to dance to at a concert or party. What stands out though, are the lyrics. The entire album speaks very strongly of the Lord and His love for us. The two songs that are most powerful for me are the very first two.
Diamonds is essentially talking about how God is using whatever situation or trial we are in to refine us. We are created in His likeness and our ultimate goal in life is to live in a way that both resembles and glorifies Him.
Part of the chorus says “He is refining, in His timing, He’s making diamonds out of us.” This is a very powerful statement. Not only is it a good reminder to wait on His timing as it is always perfect, but it also reminds us of what he’s doing in our lives. Whatever we may be going through, whatever grief we’re experiencing, He is using it to refine us even further into His image. God can take anything and use it for our good as well as His glory, even the most terrible of situations that the enemy places us in.
When I finally went looking for the rest of the album after essentially burning Diamonds into my brain, I found “Drops in the Ocean.” I think this song spoke to me even more than Diamonds did, which I didn’t think would be possible.
This song is written from God’s perspective, as if He is talking. This makes it wonderfully personal.
I’ll start with the very first line – “I want you as you are, not as you oughta be.” I love this so much because it’s so true, but we often forget. We are not perfect and we never will be, but God wants us anyway, JUST the way we are.
What REALLY speaks to me though, is the chorus.
If you wanna know how far my love can go
Just how deep
Just how wide
If you wanna see how much you mean to me
Look at my hands
Look at my side
If you could count the times I’d say you are forgiven
It’s more than the drops in the ocean
I can’t be the only one saying wow! right?
Think about it for a second, there are a LOT of drops in the ocean. Would you be willing to forgive one single person THAT many times? And for anything at all? It may be easy to forgive someone for telling you a small lie. Or for saying something mean. But to forgive someone who has wronged or betrayed you on a life-changing level – would you forgive that person millions of times? Well, that’s exactly what God calls us to do for each other, because that’s exactly what He does for us.
I was quite humbled by this song, actually. The amount of love that God has for every single person on this planet is truly unfathomable, and if He will forgive me for any and all of the things I do wrong in my entire life, then what right do I have to withhold that same level of forgiveness from anyone else? I don’t. No one does.
Conclusion
I could go on and on about this album and all the powerful lines and messages that it contains, but I’d be sitting here writing for ages and this post would become a novel. The two songs I touched on are my favourites from the album as they spoke the loudest to me, but I encourage everyone to listen to the rest of the songs as well. Each one has its own message of love, forgiveness, and freedom.
Want to Listen?
Diamonds is available at a very reasonable price over at Amazon!
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