Yesterday’s Meal started off its life, as so many great ideas do, in the shower. Mulling over the verse ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Deut. 8:3) I had this sudden realisation that so much of my walk with God was actually based off of what I had experienced as a teenager and that I had never since sought after God as regularly or as passionately as then. I felt like I had been living off of what He had said years ago, and that wasn’t ok. I resolved to change that – to seek after the voice of God every day. To not settle for what I heard before.

Most of the song was written in response to this realisation. Starting with the repentance and recognition that I had been living off of ‘scraps of what You’ve said before’. Using the twin metaphors of yesterday’s meal and treading water. That sense of comfort and complacency.

I wanted that verse in Deuteronomy to be the pivot point. Where I moved from recognising where I had gone wrong, to looking upward to Jesus. Asking Him to speak and making room for Him to do that. So often when we pray we simply talk at Him and forget to leave space to listen!

 Fairly regularly when I’m writing songs, I will hit a roadblock and the key is actually an unfinished idea from a different song. That tag is something that I’ve regularly sung in moments of spontaneous worship, and I had long wondered what I should do with it. But as I was writing the verses, I began to realise that this was where the song needed to reach.

Ultimately, this is what I wanted to speak into – that complacency that we all find ourselves in. That sense of treading water, when God has called us much deeper. It’s important to recognise where we’ve done that  and I hope that this challenges some of us at the start of this new year.

Even writing this now, I am finding myself challenged that I’ve fallen back into some of that complacency. Let’s not settle for yesterday’s meal. Let’s listen to God’s word for today. Let’s go deeper. Let’s tackle the waves together.

MIKEY POWELL

Worship Leader, Singer/Songwriter & Musician