For the longest time I’ve been trying to figure out what this song was talking about and what I was understanding was exactly what barrel.of.monkeys said. But there were too many lines that weren’t sitting right with me, mainly those in the second verse. So I started looking more closely at the lyrics, and I realized something: this song is not so much the person who has searched and found rest as I had originally thought, but rather it’s about the person who is resisting and avoiding changing. It’s like Andrew is having a conversation with a man who is refusing to admit he’s not strong enough by on his own; he’s telling the man, “You’re playing with fire and you don’t realize you’re burning yourself.”
Andrew starts by explaining that there is something deep inside us - the things we keep hidden within (most likely the negative things), the wounds we’ve suffered in past experiences, and our deepest needs and desires - requires us to make a choice. We are not at rest but we can be (rest here is referring not to physical rest and sleep but to mental, spiritual, and emotional sleeplessness and rest).
Repeating the way we’ve always done things is not enough to bring us the rest we need.
In the chorus, Andrew says he’s sought after this rest, but has failed
His pride has gotten in the way, and he’s destroyed his innocence.
He continues, saying that there won’t be any making of amends here; what’s done is done. But instead let his failure serve as an example or warning to you because it’s never too late to start over. Andrew says if you don’t believe him, this is your evidence, the sleeplessness that he still finds himself in.
In the second verse, he gets up front and personal with the listener. “Do you get the point? Are you hearing what I’m saying?” This isn’t a time for messing around. You have take a step first, because you can’t just feel this way. You have to do something about it first - this feeling follows action. So here’s your choice — either you can say find an excuse, saying that because Andrew has failed in the past, you don’t have to listen to him and instead just ignore his warning… Or you can realize that anyone by their own strength is worthless and incapable. Everyone fails and so will you, if you do it without God.
Andrew ends with this: the hand, the furnace, the straight face. In other words, “you’re playing with fire, and you don’t realize that if you continue you’re going to get burned” (It may also mean something along the lines of “stick your hand in/on the furnace, and try to keep a straight face…tell me it doesn’t hurt, cause I know you can’t do that").
For the longest time I’ve been trying to figure out what this song was talking about and what I was understanding was exactly what barrel.of.monkeys said. But there were too many lines that weren’t sitting right with me, mainly those in the second verse. So I started looking more closely at the lyrics, and I realized something: this song is not so much the person who has searched and found rest as I had originally thought, but rather it’s about the person who is resisting and avoiding changing. It’s like Andrew is having a conversation with a man who is refusing to admit he’s not strong enough by on his own; he’s telling the man, “You’re playing with fire and you don’t realize you’re burning yourself.”
Andrew starts by explaining that there is something deep inside us - the things we keep hidden within (most likely the negative things), the wounds we’ve suffered in past experiences, and our deepest needs and desires - requires us to make a choice. We are not at rest but we can be (rest here is referring not to physical rest and sleep but to mental, spiritual, and emotional sleeplessness and rest). Repeating the way we’ve always done things is not enough to bring us the rest we need.
In the chorus, Andrew says he’s sought after this rest, but has failed His pride has gotten in the way, and he’s destroyed his innocence. He continues, saying that there won’t be any making of amends here; what’s done is done. But instead let his failure serve as an example or warning to you because it’s never too late to start over. Andrew says if you don’t believe him, this is your evidence, the sleeplessness that he still finds himself in.
In the second verse, he gets up front and personal with the listener. “Do you get the point? Are you hearing what I’m saying?” This isn’t a time for messing around. You have take a step first, because you can’t just feel this way. You have to do something about it first - this feeling follows action. So here’s your choice — either you can say find an excuse, saying that because Andrew has failed in the past, you don’t have to listen to him and instead just ignore his warning… Or you can realize that anyone by their own strength is worthless and incapable. Everyone fails and so will you, if you do it without God.
Andrew ends with this: the hand, the furnace, the straight face. In other words, “you’re playing with fire, and you don’t realize that if you continue you’re going to get burned” (It may also mean something along the lines of “stick your hand in/on the furnace, and try to keep a straight face…tell me it doesn’t hurt, cause I know you can’t do that").