“Petrified Heart” by Caedmon’s Call (40 Acres Album)

“Petrified Heart” by Caedmon’s Call

This old heart’s been left
Upon my sleeve
And I have paid as it’s been rent
into pieces

Seems everyone I’ve loved has
Taken a bit of my insides
I’m scattered as the woman whose body
Was torn for the twelve tribes

When did my heart get so petrified?
When did it get so hard to feel?
When did my heart get so afraid to love?
When did it get so hard?

And the easy-living Gnostic proud
Use their knowledge
Like a wrecking ball to tear me down
Flooding me with their fallacies
I can’t walk on this water
I’m starting to drown

When did my heart get so petrified?
When did it get so hard to feel?
When did my heart get so afraid to love?
When did it get so hard?

Strike this rock with your rod
I’ll take the blows
Till your living water begins to flow
As it flowed from the Man of Sorrows’ side
On that day when his body
Was torn for the twelve tribes

When did my heart get so petrified?
When did it get so hard to feel?
When did my heart get so afraid to love?
When did it get so hard?
When did it get so hard?

Written by Aaron Tate

Dear God, I’ve been anxious to get to this song. Frankly, it’s the one that inspired me to finally sit down and dig into this album a little more from beginning to end. This song reminds me of a friend. A couple of weeks ago, when I heard it for the first time in a long time, I called my wife over and read her some of the lyrics. It reminded her of our friend too. I decided I wanted to pray the spirit of this song over her. She’s been hurt, she feels betrayed. She’s been hurt by family, friends, boyfriends, etc. On paper, she has a lot going for her and a lot of people would trade for her life in an instant, but the scars from the past have left her, seemingly, unable to feel.

The biblical allusions in this song are interesting. Comparing the woman in Judges 19 (the Levite’s concubine–one of the more horrific stories in the Bible, in which there are no heroes, but only cowards and one victim) to this person’s pain is interesting. Victimized. Left for dead. Attacked by strangers and betrayed by one who was supposed to love her so that he could save himself. Awful. The story is really too terrible to read, and yet you included it in your scripture.

Then there is our hope. The rocky, petrified heart can still contain water. It can be a conduit through which your water can flow. We are reminded of this from the biblical allusions in the bridge:

• “Strike this rock with your rod, I’ll take the blows, Till your living water begins to flow” (Exodus 17:6 – [God speaking to Moses] I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.) – This story was a result of the people grumbling about God and having been brought out of Egypt just to die. In verse 7 it says, “And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not.” Well, there are times when I wonder if you are really there. I wonder if my friend wonders that too. 
• “As it flowed from the Man of Sorrows’ side on that day when his body was torn for the twelve tribes” (John 19:33-34 – But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. In stead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’s side with a spear; bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.) – It’s important to remember that Jesus experienced much of what any of us experience that would harden our hearts. Rejection by family. Poverty. Want. Betrayal by everyone around him.

Father, the words of Rich Mullins in the song “Bound to Come Some Trouble” come to mind: There’s bound to come some trouble to your life, that ain’t nothing to be afraid of. There’s bound to come some trouble to your life, that ain’t not reason to fear. I know there’s bound to come some trouble to your life. Reach out to Jesus. Hold on tight. He’s been there before, I think he knows what it’s like. And you’ll find he’s there. I pray these words over my friend, and I pray them over myself. Help us to reach out to Jesus and experience the healing of the mercy given to us and that we can give to others. Help us to experience that freedom.

It’s in that same Jesus’s name that I pray all of this,

Amen