“Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” Habakkuk 2:2

Two words stick out to me in this directive to Habakkuk. “Plainly” and “correct.” I wonder why God thought it important to include them. Write it “plainly” says to me, “Don’t complicate the message. Don’t embellish it. Don’t be smart about it.” And it’s something you can actually get down on a tablet, so it’s not long and involved. And the second word probably fits with it, because if the message is plain and uncomplicated there’s less of a chance of it being misunderstood.

My most well-known song was so plain and simple that I didn’t even think much of it. It came to me while staying at a friend’s house where I woke up in a yellow bedroom with the sun streaming in and immediately wrote, “Love Him in the morning when you see the sun arising.” I wrote the rest of it in minutes — including one verse — and told myself I would finish it another day. Thinking it was much too simple, I literally carried it around for months in my back pack. Then one night at a meeting at the church at which I was leading the music every week, I was desperate for another song, so I tried it out and the people loved it. They learned it on the spot, and joined me as we sang it over and over again, and they became the first runners.

I really didn’t like the idea at first. I thought it was too simple. A little ditty. Love Him in the morning, love Him in the evening, and in the in-between time, remember that He loves you. That’s it. Plain, simple and correct. And the verse?

When you think you’ve got to worry

‘Cause it seems the thing to do

Remember He ain’t in a hurry

He’s always got time for you

So …

I look at that verse now and see part of Habakuk’s message there. “Remember He ain’t in a hurry; He’s always got time for you,” implies a waiting for God to act, though His presence is with us all the time. Just as God told Habakkuk, “It will surely take place. It will not be delayed” (2:3).

Thus my most popular song is my simplest. I have other songs with so much more nuance and subtlety, but no, this is the one everyone remembers. I actually fought with this for a while, but the people wouldn’t let me get away from it. I refused to write another verse because … well … the song wasn’t worth it. But that didn’t matter. They told me the song was complete. They chose it for me.

So here’s the song, plain and simple. Go ahead and listen to it, and when you are done … run with it. “Carry the correct message to others.”