The song is mainly about the invisible but concrete connection between a Christian and Jesus, and the repercussions of their sin being a conviction they cannot shake and an unavoidable calling to live for more.
“We calmly weigh our thoughts before we know them, Careful not to break our only scale”
The Christian is weighing his options, trying to choose between a righteous choice and the enticing sin. The heart is wicked, though, so the believer “doesn’t know his own thoughts” because though he try to fight the temptation he fails in the end and does what he does not want to do.
See Romans 7:15-20
“But there’s no lament in taking chances, Fall a little while before we soar”
The Christian chooses the sinful direction, but convinces himself he need not lament as he is unsure of the outcome. He knows Jesus will restore him eventually, so he convinces himself he can afford to ‘fall’ (that is, live sinfully) for a while and ‘enjoy himself’ before Jesus causes him to soar once again.
Alternatively, I like the explanation of drbroberts:
“The person in the song did some sort of sin: ‘Fall a little while before we soar’ could mean sinning before feeling something euphoric like sex or drugs.”
“Sword in mouth and helpless in the bond we have between us, Fire eyes and desperate for the helplessness we love”
Jesus in His post-resurrection, glorified form is described several times in the Bible as having "a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth" and having "eyes like flames of fire" (see Revelation 1:14-16, along with ch.2, among other places). This chorus is referring to Jesus in His ultimate display of power, where He returns to earth to judge us for what we've done.
The Christian has an unbreakable bond with this Lord even amidst his current sinful situation, being "helpless in the bond between [them]," and he feels the weight of his guilt and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, feeling "desperate for the helplessness we love." That is, knowing full-well he is one in Spirit with the Lord of Glory with sword in mouth and fire eyes, and cannot escape that bond, he feels the pressure to repent and long for the blissful ignorance of a life apart from Christ. (In his current sinful situation he thinks he longs for this (but see the first line) but by the end of the song he realizes what is better.)
“Turn to walk the path in my reflection, But not before the sheep becomes the wolf”
Repentance is by definition a "turning away" from sin, and Jesus' people are described as His sheep (see anywhere in the Gospels).
Again, using drbroberts' insight, it seems this line is referring to the Christian beginning to answer the call to repentance: he turns away from his sin to his reflection--that is, the opposite (mirrored) path from what he has been taking--to follow the right path, but before he really gets the chance to change he (the sheep) "becomes the wolf"--he is enticed back by temptation and dives headlong into the sin.
“Loveless without shame. I was only waiting for the calm before the storm, The tongue was being sharpened by the lie”
The Christian was respondent to his convictions at first, hence the turning to walk the right path in the lyric before, but "became the wolf" and dove back into the sin, hardening his heart. He is loveless towards his Savior through these sinful decisions, but his conscience has now become calloused from his return to the sin, so he has no shame. He still feels some conviction, and he is waiting for it to fully go away--the "calm before the storm" when his convictions are calm and absent yet he knows this means Jesus is about to break him over his sin.
His tongue, that of a two-edged sword that he shares by union with Jesus (see chorus), is being sharpened by his own sin--that is, Jesus in His grace is still using all of this to further increase the Christian's ability to proclaim His truth in love. Once the Christian is broken of this sin, the trials and restoration to repentance will give him a renewed fervor and ability for spreading the Gospel--Jesus saving him from his sin again will only be more fuel for his fire eyes.
“Tell us all the things we need to know now, You’ll find us in the silence of our own guilt.”
Notice the change of sound/feel of the song here--up until this point the chorus alone has been the frantic norma-jean-unique-scream-singing type, pointing to the Christian's anxiety in light of his bond with a Holy God amidst his sin, and the rest of the song has been sung normally. Now, this part comes out of the chorus but retains the frantic sound of the chorus--the awaited storm has come. The Christian has finally been shaken from his fall into sin by a powerful conviction from the Spirit, and he now cries out to the Lord to "tell him all the things he needs to know"--to correct him in his error and teach him how to live upright. This is sung in a frantic style, emphasizing with the next lines the broken state of the Christian, desperate to be restored to Christ.
He is broken over his sin and admits guilt before the Lord, knowing He will "find him in the silence of his own guilt." This is reminiscent of Job's posture towards the Lord when He questions Job, and Job "despises himself" and wishes to remain silent (see Job 40:3-5 and 42:1-6).
“Shout it from the hell below, Shake us but be gentle so!”
The Christian continues his plea before the Lord with crying out to the Lord to "shout" to him of his sins "from hell"--that is, to show him what it means for him to be heading towards hell in his sin, to shout "from hell" so the Christian might have a glimpse of his future should he not repent, so that he can shake free of the enchantment of sin and repent to save his soul (imagine Jesus standing in hell, shouting to him "Is this where you want to be??")
The Christian knows of the strength and power of the Lord (sword in mouth, fire eyes), so he asks that the Lord might be gentle with him--shake him just enough to wake him up from his sin but not too much as to devastate him (again, see Job's responses to God).
“Take our hand walk us through, Take my hand walk me through the land I stole!”
The Christian asks the Lord to show him the full breadth and depth of his sins--"walk me though the land I stole"--he wants to be walked through the devastating sins he has committed to be forced to look at what he's done. Yet he asks the Lord to "take his hand." Like a father would hold the hand of his small child who is afraid when walking in a dark or scary place, to help him feel safe in the protection of his father, the Christian asks his Heavenly Father likewise to take his hand while he walks him through--not to force him to look at his sins alone, but to be there beside him, holding his hand, so he can feel safe and secure in the arms of the Lord despite his sins.
See Psalm 23:4, when David is walking "through the valley of the shadow of death" but "fears no evil" because the Lord is with him.
“Help us to lay down”
After the events of the song--trying to resist sin, losing the battle, sinning, trying to turn away, and falling further into it instead, all the while knowing full-well of the wrath and love of God, and then after needing the Lord to shake him free of the sin and asking Him to walk him through his sin as to see how awful it was, the Christian has now turned away from his sin but is very aware of how grievous it was and how guilty and deserving of wrath he would be were it not for the grace of God. Echoing David once again in Psalm 23:2, where David describes God as his Shepherd and says the Lord "makes him lie down," the Christian asks God to help him lay down--that is, to give him peace and ease his conscience so that despite his guilt he can know he is forgiven and finally have peaceful rest instead of all the anxiety and stress that this sin has caused.
The song is mainly about the invisible but concrete connection between a Christian and Jesus, and the repercussions of their sin being a conviction they cannot shake and an unavoidable calling to live for more.
“We calmly weigh our thoughts before we know them, Careful not to break our only scale”
The Christian is weighing his options, trying to choose between a righteous choice and the enticing sin. The heart is wicked, though, so the believer “doesn’t know his own thoughts” because though he try to fight the temptation he fails in the end and does what he does not want to do. See Romans 7:15-20
“But there’s no lament in taking chances, Fall a little while before we soar”
The Christian chooses the sinful direction, but convinces himself he need not lament as he is unsure of the outcome. He knows Jesus will restore him eventually, so he convinces himself he can afford to ‘fall’ (that is, live sinfully) for a while and ‘enjoy himself’ before Jesus causes him to soar once again. Alternatively, I like the explanation of drbroberts: “The person in the song did some sort of sin: ‘Fall a little while before we soar’ could mean sinning before feeling something euphoric like sex or drugs.”
“Sword in mouth and helpless in the bond we have between us, Fire eyes and desperate for the helplessness we love”
Jesus in His post-resurrection, glorified form is described several times in the Bible as having "a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth" and having "eyes like flames of fire" (see Revelation 1:14-16, along with ch.2, among other places). This chorus is referring to Jesus in His ultimate display of power, where He returns to earth to judge us for what we've done. The Christian has an unbreakable bond with this Lord even amidst his current sinful situation, being "helpless in the bond between [them]," and he feels the weight of his guilt and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, feeling "desperate for the helplessness we love." That is, knowing full-well he is one in Spirit with the Lord of Glory with sword in mouth and fire eyes, and cannot escape that bond, he feels the pressure to repent and long for the blissful ignorance of a life apart from Christ. (In his current sinful situation he thinks he longs for this (but see the first line) but by the end of the song he realizes what is better.)
“Turn to walk the path in my reflection, But not before the sheep becomes the wolf”
Repentance is by definition a "turning away" from sin, and Jesus' people are described as His sheep (see anywhere in the Gospels). Again, using drbroberts' insight, it seems this line is referring to the Christian beginning to answer the call to repentance: he turns away from his sin to his reflection--that is, the opposite (mirrored) path from what he has been taking--to follow the right path, but before he really gets the chance to change he (the sheep) "becomes the wolf"--he is enticed back by temptation and dives headlong into the sin.
“Loveless without shame. I was only waiting for the calm before the storm, The tongue was being sharpened by the lie”
The Christian was respondent to his convictions at first, hence the turning to walk the right path in the lyric before, but "became the wolf" and dove back into the sin, hardening his heart. He is loveless towards his Savior through these sinful decisions, but his conscience has now become calloused from his return to the sin, so he has no shame. He still feels some conviction, and he is waiting for it to fully go away--the "calm before the storm" when his convictions are calm and absent yet he knows this means Jesus is about to break him over his sin. His tongue, that of a two-edged sword that he shares by union with Jesus (see chorus), is being sharpened by his own sin--that is, Jesus in His grace is still using all of this to further increase the Christian's ability to proclaim His truth in love. Once the Christian is broken of this sin, the trials and restoration to repentance will give him a renewed fervor and ability for spreading the Gospel--Jesus saving him from his sin again will only be more fuel for his fire eyes.
“Tell us all the things we need to know now, You’ll find us in the silence of our own guilt.”
Notice the change of sound/feel of the song here--up until this point the chorus alone has been the frantic norma-jean-unique-scream-singing type, pointing to the Christian's anxiety in light of his bond with a Holy God amidst his sin, and the rest of the song has been sung normally. Now, this part comes out of the chorus but retains the frantic sound of the chorus--the awaited storm has come. The Christian has finally been shaken from his fall into sin by a powerful conviction from the Spirit, and he now cries out to the Lord to "tell him all the things he needs to know"--to correct him in his error and teach him how to live upright. This is sung in a frantic style, emphasizing with the next lines the broken state of the Christian, desperate to be restored to Christ. He is broken over his sin and admits guilt before the Lord, knowing He will "find him in the silence of his own guilt." This is reminiscent of Job's posture towards the Lord when He questions Job, and Job "despises himself" and wishes to remain silent (see Job 40:3-5 and 42:1-6).
“Shout it from the hell below, Shake us but be gentle so!”
The Christian continues his plea before the Lord with crying out to the Lord to "shout" to him of his sins "from hell"--that is, to show him what it means for him to be heading towards hell in his sin, to shout "from hell" so the Christian might have a glimpse of his future should he not repent, so that he can shake free of the enchantment of sin and repent to save his soul (imagine Jesus standing in hell, shouting to him "Is this where you want to be??") The Christian knows of the strength and power of the Lord (sword in mouth, fire eyes), so he asks that the Lord might be gentle with him--shake him just enough to wake him up from his sin but not too much as to devastate him (again, see Job's responses to God).
“Take our hand walk us through, Take my hand walk me through the land I stole!”
The Christian asks the Lord to show him the full breadth and depth of his sins--"walk me though the land I stole"--he wants to be walked through the devastating sins he has committed to be forced to look at what he's done. Yet he asks the Lord to "take his hand." Like a father would hold the hand of his small child who is afraid when walking in a dark or scary place, to help him feel safe in the protection of his father, the Christian asks his Heavenly Father likewise to take his hand while he walks him through--not to force him to look at his sins alone, but to be there beside him, holding his hand, so he can feel safe and secure in the arms of the Lord despite his sins. See Psalm 23:4, when David is walking "through the valley of the shadow of death" but "fears no evil" because the Lord is with him.
“Help us to lay down”
After the events of the song--trying to resist sin, losing the battle, sinning, trying to turn away, and falling further into it instead, all the while knowing full-well of the wrath and love of God, and then after needing the Lord to shake him free of the sin and asking Him to walk him through his sin as to see how awful it was, the Christian has now turned away from his sin but is very aware of how grievous it was and how guilty and deserving of wrath he would be were it not for the grace of God. Echoing David once again in Psalm 23:2, where David describes God as his Shepherd and says the Lord "makes him lie down," the Christian asks God to help him lay down--that is, to give him peace and ease his conscience so that despite his guilt he can know he is forgiven and finally have peaceful rest instead of all the anxiety and stress that this sin has caused.