Singer Matt Maher says COVID-19 pandemic exposed ways he needs to grow as a father
Christian singer Matt Maher recently opened up about his song “Run To The Father,” and revealed that following the COVID-19 pandemic he realized how much he wants to grow as a father to his own children.
The father of three children under the age of 9 penned the songs with worship leader Cody Carnes and Ran Jackson.
Carnes, who also recorded the song, told Maher that he wanted to write a song about the “revelation of God's heart as a Father.”
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"I'm a dad. He's a dad,” Maher said in an interview with 99.1 JOY FM. “It's one of those things where we ... wrote the song and it's almost something that's like so close, it's like you don't fully get it.”
"I would say that that song, especially in light of last year and everything that all of us have been through, in particular as a dad, I've been locked home with my kids, which is great and crazy!”
Due to the lockdowns that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, the traveling Christian musician was not able to tour so he spent a lot of time at home in Nashville with his family.
"I think, for me, fatherhood is a way in which God has exposed all the ways in which I'm lacking, but all the places in which He wants to provide,” Maher added. “So 2020 was a very hard year for everyone. I think for me as a dad, probably I'll look back on it and realize it was a year where I, as a dad, realized I don't want to act this way.”
"My dad passed away several years ago,” he continued. “In the process of God reconciling things with that, as a kid, you get modeled [and] the closest thing to God is your parents, especially your dad. So you can have a very human concept of God and not even realize it because that's who your dad was."
"All of a sudden you start thinking, 'Oh well, God isn't patient. God gets angry really easily. He gets really disappointed, or He's distant ... and it's like, He's all those things,” the “Let All the People say Amen” musician added. “He's not those things; that's not who He is.”
The song was originally recorded for Carnes, but Maher decided to release the song because of what it has come to mean to him as a parent.
"As time progressed, I just thought, 'Man, this song really does mean something to me too," he concluded.
In the chorus, Maher sings: “I run to the Father/ Fall into grace/ I'm done with the hiding/ No reason to wait/ My heart needs a surgeon/ My soul needs a friend/ So I'll run to the Father/ Again and again.”
In a video released with the single in 2020, Maher shared how his children view him.
“When my kids get hurt they just run to my wife and I. They don’t stop or hesitate, they just run. And that’s a profound revelation of what it means to have a heart open to God, to be able to run to Him when we’re hurting,” Maher said.
“The other thing is as a parent that when I see my own child suffering, I run to them. I don’t wait for them to run to me. So even as I sing a song called ‘Run To The Father,’ I’m really, in some ways, singing about the fact that God’s already run to me and He’ll never get tired of me needing Him.”
Jeannie Ortega Law is a reporter for The Christian Post. Reach her at: jeannie.law@christianpost.com She's also the author of the book, What Is Happening to Me? How to Defeat Your Unseen Enemy Follow her on Twitter: @jlawcp Facebook: JeannieOMusic
