Piercing an Ear as An Act of Worship

Tuesday is For Heart Songs

Update: This post was written a number of years ago but today I was reminded of it and thought I would pass it along. My car CD player is broken and it and the radio have been sent away for repair. Not having either a radio or a CD in the car has meant a lot of undistracted driving and time for prayer and thinking.

Today, though I hadn’t heard the tune in years, I could not get this tune and the words of this simple chorus out of my head. So as I rolled down the road, my heart was drawn into worship and prayer as a tune from three decades ago bubbled to the surface of my consciousness at the prompting, I think, of the Holy Spirit. Enjoy.

This song is no longer in the popular mix of worship in our churches but 25-30 years ago the song “Pierce My Ear” was a regular. Ironic that it has fallen out of favor in our present piercing-fixated culture. But the words were penetrating.

It is no longer in play on the radio and its song structure is so simple that it sounds dated and almost quaint today. And yet its very simplicity allows the worshipper to fully engage with the words. We need more of that.

In the Old Testament, at the end of seven years, Jewish slaves were released by their masters, but a kind master sometimes got a surprise. If a slave had learned to love and respect his master there was a ceremony in which he could declare his loyalty.

You can read about it in Exodus 21:1-6. You won’t understand the song if you don’t know the background so I hope you will open your Bible and read those six verses before you read the words of the song.

The songwriter uses the image of a slave, a frequent term for believers in the New Testament, to declare his loyalty to God. Here are the lyrics:

Pierce my ear, O Lord, my God
Take me to Your door this day.
I will serve no other gods,
Lord, I’m here to stay.
For You have paid the price for me
With Your blood You ransomed me.
I will serve You eternally,
A free man I’ll never be.

In this age of self-expression may all your expression in all your days be an act of worship for the God who rescues from sin and restores to glory.

Update: Almost 17,000 people have come to this particular page on the website. Unfortunately, I think most come to the page to find out about rook-piercing rather than worship. For those of you who came for the latter, pray that the former stay long enough to read the post. For those who came for the picture of various types of piercings—if you have read this far, it’s because somebody is praying for you. My prayer is that your heart would be pierced by the One who was pierced for your redemption. Here’s a youtube version of the song that was out of circulation before youtube was even invented.