Hope Through Brokenness: “The Wake” (Track 1)

Hope Through Brokenness: “The Wake” (Track 1)
Blog Post by Kurt Scobie
July 15, 2012
www.kurtscobie.com/blogs

Thanks for reading! I am hoping that this series of blogs helps you (and me) better understand the songs on my new project, “The Hopeful Broken”. With each of these blogs I’ll be dissecting the lyrics, and elaborating on the ideas expressed in the songs.

So, here we go. Track 1. “The Wake”

Wake up
We’re getting out of this place
I’m breaking you out of these chains
You’re no slave
You are an heir to a throne not a grave

Somewhere along the way, whether by choice or by force, we all have fallen into a pattern of numbness that calls for a rescuer. Usually without realizing, we end up chained to our habits or hurts and we buy into a lie. “You are a failure”. “You are poor”. “Death owns you”. “You are a slave”. And we cannot come out of this on our own. We need help. We need someone to break the chains for us. We need the voice of one who is awake to tell us the truth. To bring us back.

Stand up
Wipe off the dirt from your crown
I’ll carry you I’ll take you out
Don’t be afraid
I know the way out
I know the way

But, trust is hard. For the oppressed and imprisoned, even harder. We have been trained to believe that we are all on our own. That the only way to get anything or anywhere in life is to do it alone. The “independent woman” and the “self-made man” are our models. Complete trust in someone else to save us, is near impossible. And how are we to know this “savior” can really help us? How are we to know that his heart is good? What if she fails me? Do they know the way?

But, if we choose not to trust, is there any hope of freedom? Trusting in our own way has lead us to chains. Should we trust ourselves... to save ourselves?

Free now
I am breaking you out
Don’t look down
Come, leave this hell

Freedom. It must first be declared. Then claimed. This is the power of hope. Not “well, I hope so” hope, but TRUE hope. True hope makes a way for freedom.

Eyes wide
This is where you come alive
This is where it all turns around
There’s no shame
Whatever the ransom
It has been paid

And coming awake is just the start. Breaking free is the beginning. There is a genuine excitement when the chains of a bad habit or an addiction is broken. Wide-eyed and alive is the only way to approach each day when we realize that we are FREE. Our debt is paid. Shame is gone.

Free now
I am breaking you out
Don’t look down
Come, leave this hell

Free now
Come awake and be found
Run unbound
Come, leave this hell

“The Wake” was originally written for those affected by human trafficking. But, as these ideas grew in my head I began to recognize that this theme of ‘freedom from slavery’ is bigger than the sex-trade industry. It’s bigger than the problems of addiction and trying to kick a bad habit. I have found that this idea strikes a chord in each one of us. We all need saving. We all, in one way or another, need something that we cannot attain on our own. We all need a rescuer, a helper, a friend, to bring us to freedom.

Kurt