Lesser known song lyrics with powerful messages (at least to me)

Not many of my own words here, but something I thought worth collecting here nonetheless. These are some songs with lyrics that have stuck in my mind over the years. These aren't the full lyrics, but the key excerpt that caught in my head. In every case, the entire song's lyrics are worth the read, and are linked on each title if you've got the time. Many are Christian rock/metal bands that are both lesser known and just a music style I know not everyone loves, but you can still at least appreciate the artful lyrics.

My Epic - Lower Still

This song is what I have long thought of first on Easter. It perfectly captures in both lyric and style the deep emotional weight of what Jesus accomplished, especially on the cross.

Beat in His face; tear the skin off His back. Lower still. Lower still.
Strip off His clothes; make Him crawl through the streets. Lower still. Lower still.
Hang Him like meat on a criminal's tree. Lower still! Lower still!
Bury His corpse in the earth like a seed, like a seed, like a seed. Lower still!
Lower still, Lower still, Lower still, Lower still.

The earth explodes, she cannot hold Him. And all therein is placed beneath Him.
And death itself no longer reigns, it cannot keep the ones He gave Himself to save.
And as the universe shatters, the darkness dissolves, He alone will be honored, we will bathe in His splendor as...
...All Heads Bow Lower Still! All Heads Bow Lower Still!

Fallstar - Windows

A reminder that every ounce of love we see within our personal relationships is owed to God. And every bit of rejection is a human distortion. This should push us to seek God directly for a deep, restorative relationship, rather than be scared off by the human sources of pain.

And they call you a God, but what does that mean?
I've heard that word so many times I wish I'd never heard it at all.
So I'll call you a friend, because from friends I've seen love.
But my friends they betray me and have tendencies to leave.
So I'll try you as father, and I'll try not to bother you if you are busy or you're taking a nap.
If you've given me nothing to call you by what name should I scream as I'm facing the sky?
What name should I call when I notice I'm falling?
You know us humans, we've never been too good at flying.
And from what I've seen, if you love me you must want something in return.
Sir, I'm only a boy, I've got nothing to offer.
There was one I loved with everything though in the end, I lost her.

Beautifully as breeze you gently whisper please.
Please, please, just spend some time with me.
That's all I ask, that's all I need.
Call me your friend, call me your brother.
Call me your father, call me your mother.
I gave you all of these so you could catch a glimpse of me.
If any of them ever loved you, boy I promise that was me.
And while they turn their backs on you, boy I swear I'll never leave.
So please, please, just spend some time with me.

Levi the Poet - Keep Forgiving

This one is nearly impossible to excerpt. Go read/listen to the entirety. I promise it's worth your time. Here's how it starts:

keep forgiving. when all is not what you thought it was.
when the lynch mob pulls back the curtain on all that is ferocious and majestical,
well we are each of us small men to varying degrees, projecting the great and powerful oz with booming voices so much louder than we are confident.

Preson Phillips - Lift up the Gates

I love the imagery of just how big God truly is. We try to box Him in rather than letting him fill our whole hearts and lives.

My Father walks the earth
His feet they roam the sand
My God he parts the seas
And halts the waters with His hands

But my people build His house so small
With pious righteousness and pride
And we stand atop our filthy rags
Like towers built to reach the sky
And my people paint cathedral walls
That He can't fit inside

Lift up your gates
The King is entering
Oh ancient doors
Prepare the way of our Lord

I Am Alpha And Omega - Chasing

There's something beautiful about the short refrain in this song. God is relentless in His love and grace.

How can You love me when I won't stand beside You? You just keep chasing after me.
Why do You give me grace when I have no place to keep it? You just keep chasing after me.

In darker times I've tested Thee. I've run long and hard to find Your end.
No matter how far or fast I go, You're always waiting to wrap your arms around me.

Life In Your Way - Induction

This one also can't be excerpted, but it is short enough to reasonably reproduce the whole thing below. The lyrics are derived from Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy.

Some of you need to hear this for the first time, and so this is from our hearts:

The Kingdom of God is for the burnouts, the broken, and the broke, the drug addicts, the divorced, the HIV-positive, the herpes-ridden, the hopeless, for the outcasts that have been created by the church, and for the outcasts of our society that have been created by us.

The Kingdom of God is for the brain-damaged, the incurably ill, for the barren, the pregnant-too-many-times, and the pregnant-at-the-wrong-time. This is for the over-employed, the underemployed, the unemployable, and the unemployed. This is for the swindled, the shoved aside, the left aside, the replaced, the incompetent, and the stupid. This is for the emotionally starved and the emotionally dead.

The Kingdom of God is for the bigoted, the murderers, the child molesters, the brutals, the drug lords, the terrorists, the perverted, the raging alcoholics, over-consumers, the incredibly ugly, the dumb, the ignorant, the starving, the filthy, and the filthy rich.

The Kingdom of God is for everyone and the Kingdom of God is for me.

Oh Sleeper - Reveries of Flight

This song opens with a speaker who is questioning where God is, and why He seems deaf to his cries. God interjects to make His commitment to the speaker clear.

You keep denying my lead!
Because I've tried, I've never pulled back my reach.
And I've stayed, and I've died, but you keep looking for me where I'm not.
I won't be just where you want me to be.
...
If you would just try and let (me) pry all your grips on worries,
I would come alive in your life and let you find the flight you're longing.

Kings Kaleidoscope - W.D.Y.K.A.G?

A song that convicts Christians on the right, on the left, and even those who think they've taken the middle path. Revoke power via politics, and look to the power and grace from on high to actually live out the justice and compassion Christ calls us to in the world.

Yeah, you've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, co-opted and run amok
Sold your white Jesus to prop your empire up
Bought the binary, rendered unto Caesar
All 'cause your cathedrals needed more cedar
Sold love of neighbor for seat at the table
All for the major goal to hold scrolls in your favor
Sale Gospel with the slaves with precision of arrows
With a 6:30 tee time, nine holes with Pharaoh
All hail the God of comfort, convenience, and power
This land is ours, privilege in towers, not for the cowards
Product placement, adjacent to sacred cows