A Conversation with Matthew West on his song “Oh Me of Little Faith
May 19, 2019.
I am so honored to have had the opportunity to talk with Matthew West at his recent acoustic concert held at the Cove at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC. Before I jump to the story behind the song of Oh, Me of Little Faith, I must share with you the experience of this concert.
So often when attending a concert one can expect to hear good music, be entertained and then leave. That was not the case with this concert. Matthew West put ministry before himself and the music and realized that after the music ends there is more to be done. I simply was blown away by Matthew and his heart for others. Yes, the music was wonderful, the light-hearted humor was enough that you wished he’d do a bit more and the interaction with the audience made you feel as if he was speaking directly to you. However, the part that impressed me was how he purposely reminded us why we were there, why it is that he does what he does. He even gave an altar call. I guess one would think that everyone attending a night of worship is a Christian and a believer. But as Matthew said, “how many were dragged there by their spouse or partner not knowing what to expect”. At a time when he could have done an encore or two, he instead turned the focus toward those in the audience allowing them the opportunity to come to know the Lord and accept him as Savior. Matthew’s Father travels with him and at the end of this concert, he called him to the stage to pray and to lead those who wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior in a prayer of repentance. The presence of the Lord was there, and such a sweet spirit filled the room. For Lisa and I, we felt as if we had been to church.
Our conversation began and immediately Matthew made us feel as if we were old friends reuniting. After some small talk, I ask him what his writing process was and how does he come up with his songs. He responded by saying that he looks at writing like a locked house. “Most of the time you go in and out the front door, but sometimes you lock yourself out and have to find another way in. I try to look at my songwriting that way. I always try to tell a story from a different point of view. Sometimes you have a key and can go right on into the house, other times you have to look for a window or other means to get in and that’s what I do with my songs, I try to mix it up so that I can tell it from a first-person point of view or sometimes telling it from third person. I always look at how to get in from a different way.
When preparing for a new project he says he looks at what’s moving him at the moment and what’s the idea or concept of what he is wanting to say. The song “Oh Me of Little Faith” comes from his Live Forever cd and as Matthew shares the whole heartbeat of the album is centered around a number. “I googled the fact that there are 86,400 seconds in a day and the idea for me is to make every second count, which is something that motivates me”. This song, he continues, came from some quiet time, where it was just me and my guitar thinking about the amazement of God and that for everything I lack there is a God who provides and that every void I face, it can be filled by one and one only. The lyrics talk about, oh me of little faith, oh me of little hope, oh me of little love, and for me just the idea that for everything I lack God cares about it and provides for me. And as Matthew ends he recalls the last verse of the song, I’ll never understand how a God of endless grace could love me of little faith.”
Matthew is passionate about what he does and as we walked away he said, It’s so cool that as a Christian artist I get to tell the greatest story ever told. My prayer is that God uses me to tell stories that it points to him.
For more information check out Matthew at http://matthewwest.com/
Backstory...Stories Behind the Songs 