Lyrics Page
Suffering Servant
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Sep 27, 2026 updated
The Art of Joy album
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Jackie Hill Perry writes this one as a direct address to someone specific — not a congregation, but a person carrying "the rattle of buried bodies in their skeletons," worn down by shame they've stopped trying to name. The poem doesn't rush past that weight to get to comfort.
"I wish I could wake them up, untuck them from the comfort of lonely" names isolation as its own kind of trap, one that starts to feel safer than the risk of being seen. The offer that follows is small and specific rather than a demand: "worship isn't too far from their reaches, long as they are willing to try."
The title borrows directly from Isaiah's prophecy of a servant "despised and rejected," acquainted with grief, and the closing image — "the day that you see your King's face, and He wipes them away" — leans on Revelation's promise that God will wipe away every tear. "Your earthly tears will be a means for praise" doesn't erase the pain being described; it just insists the pain isn't the last word on it.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
Some people make me sad
They walk past me
With the rattle of buried bodies in their skeletons
And I am interested in why they haven't dropped them off yet
How they have gotten so comfortable
With the weight of death on their backs
And I wonder
If they have seen stars in their eyes
And moons beneath their smirk
But you can tell
That a mirror would only give them nightmares
And I wish I could wake them up
Untuck them from the comfort of lonely
And remind them that some dreams do come true
That a heart with chameleon like pain
Won't always be that color
Even though the past and present hunts them like a vidual eternity
Scaring the peace out of their faith
I place my two fingers next to their weary hands
And pinky promise them
That worship isn't too far from their reaches
Long as they are willing to try
Willing to crawl
A dying hope to the edge of the Throne of Mercy
Drag their weak hearts
Into the castle skies of David's God
And beg for Him to reign there when no umbrella
Just heaven disrupting the hell and prison beneath their ribcage
Filling your lungs with songs that have been too scared to fly
It is okay
Your earthly tears will be a means for praise
The day that you see your King's face
And He wipes them away
So smile
Because peace is coming