I Stand Before You
I STAND BEFORE YOU:
This song comes from Helaman 13-15 from Samuel the Lamanite on the walls of the Nephite city, Zarahemla. Samuel prophesies of the coming of Christ and the night without darkness as a sign of His birth on the western hemisphere. He also prophesied about the death of Christ and the three days of darkness that would follow. But these prophecies didn't fit this project, so I focused on his other words which are often overlooked in comparison to the power of his great prophecy.
Samuel came to Zarahemla to preach repentance and was rejected and thrown out of the city. When he was heading home, the Lord told him to return and to say whatever words He put into his mouth. Back at Zarahemla, he was not able to enter the city, so Samuel climbed the wall. Standing on the wall of the city, Samuel began to speak to the people. He said, "the people of Nephi hath [the Lord] loved, and also hath he chastened them; yea, in the days of their iniquities hath he chastened them because he loveth them."
Since I was updating these words, I decided to keep the prophecy of the coming of Christ, but I generalized it so that the words would also apply to His second coming. I leaned on Samuel's claim that the Lord chastens those he loves and made the song about love. He was calling the people to repentance and many listened to his words.
While Samuel was on the wall, the Nephites tried to shoot him down with their arrows, but God protected him. The arrows could not hit him and he was safe. Some people who were reluctant to believe him, began to believe when that happened. But there were those who were determined to kill Samuel, so they began to climb the wall themselves. Before they could reach him, Samuel jumped off the wall and returned to his own land, never to be seen or heard of among the Nephites.
Those that did believe and repented or were converted, they went and found Nephi and was baptized. This is the same Nephi who preached the gospel among the Lamanites and had been given sacred power from the Lord (see Sacred Power).
I wanted this song to be deep and powerful. The artist I chose to pattern this song from is Livingston. His approach to music is very intense and emotional. He uses a lot of imagery and storytelling in his songs. So I thought Livingston would be perfect.
