Lyrics Page
All Creatures
4 views
Oct 28, 2026 updated
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Josh Garrels builds this track around the old hymn refrain "All creatures of our God and King," then lets the verses wander far from the cathedral into a centipede's hundred legs, a sun that keeps rising, and a potted tree stuck beside a television. That centipede becomes a small sermon: an organism moving exactly as it was made, fearfully and wonderfully, while the singer insists life is not a static object preserved and displayed like a relic of the dead. The middle of the song turns confrontational, warning against being tamed, declawed, and fed synthetic textures instead of the earth, seed, fiber, and blood of kin. There is a wolf in sheep's clothes, a confused oppressor, and cultural pressures measured unequally, and the answer is to awaken from a devilish slumber and follow the forerunner. The closing movement widens into creation itself groaning in anticipation, waiting for the Son of God to be manifest, and the liberation of the oppressed burning in the singer's chest. The final images are of good news, freedom, the power to choose and change, long-awaited rain, healing pains, and holy flames coming down, before the hymn line returns to gather everything back into praise.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and let us sing
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia.
Creation sent to me the centipede
To witness the complexity
Of one hundred legs that were moving unexpectedly
Ironically, just as they were meant to be
They're fearfully and wonderfully made
An organism prays in circadian rhythms
The sun will rise, and the sun will set
The sun will rise again so lift up your head
This is life, not a static object preserved and displayed
Like a relic of the dead
You are not a fruitless tree with a rootless disease
Growin' in a bucket in a rich man's home
Next to the TV, tamed and alone
Learnin' to lust for the things you don't own
Like an armchair warrior who's been dethroned
Declawed and fixed
Fightin' for your life with unattended slit wrists
Don't let your name get intermingled with a number
Cause it's time to awaken from the devilish slumber
And freely follow the forerunner to the Fatherland
And rally 'round the Renaissance man
And the wisdom of His ways
And all the work of His hands
Catch come as catch can
Concentrating on the good words of the Son of Man
The plan is to withstand the demands of a confused oppressor
A wolf in sheep's clothes with monotonous lectures
And questionable gestures
Unequal measures
Cultural pressures
And synthetic textures
Force fed instead of the most beautiful architecture
Of our long lost, forgotten origins
Earth, seed, fiber and the blood of my kin
And that old rock where we confessed our sins
Oh, my God, fellow man, and this great land
They all cry out for full restoration
And this will take patience
And this will take the tribes and tongues of all the nations
And all of creation groans in anticipation
Waitin' for the Son of God to be manifest
And I can feel it burnin' in my chest
The liberation for the oppressed
And it's beautiful like the feet that bring good news
It's beautiful like this freedom tune
It's beautiful like the power to choose, to change
Beautiful like the long awaited rain
Beautiful like the healing pains
Beautiful like to holy flames
Coming down
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and let us sing
O praise Him! O Praise Him!
Alleluia