(Psalm 124) Written in 1991 after a youth retreat where street kids testified how God saved them from spiritual death and 
gave them Life. I read this Psalm as if for the first time. “The snare is broken and we have escaped!”
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Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
The anger of the enemy would have swallowed us alive
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side.
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
The waters would have engulfed us, we would have surely died
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side.
Blessed be the Lord who would not give us up
Blessed be the Lord for His unfailing love
The snare is broken and we have escaped
Our help is in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the Lord!
NOTE: Also, a couple of web sites have commented on this song. I write about a sermon series by Westover Hills Church of Christ in my blog entry here. Also, we just noticed David Cain wrote a blog entry about it here. Thanks for references, friends.
I was telling an unbeliever friend about your song and how it seemed written just for my daughter and me. He asked me to send it to him. He’s a Vietnam Vet and has had numerous struggles. I’m praying he will hear Jesus knocking and will answer.
Thanks Deb
Thanks, Patricia. We love hearing how these songs bless people and we pray for your friend. Blessings.
we love this song and i remember singing it in those days way back when! i was in that youth group that had so many come off the streets!
Incredibly anointed song that has brought us close to God time and time again during worship services. There’s a purity and a hope to this song that is rare; it’s a clarion call to tell our souls to bless the Lord and continually thank Him for what He has done.
Thanks for letting us use it to worship Jesus at Red River Church, Deb!
You were very kind a few years ago to allow our Minter Lane Church of Christ to pay a small honorarium to use your hymn “Had It Not Been the Lord” in our congregational hymnal. Now, someone suggested that on the word “love” in the Refrain’s “His unfailing Love,” the half note is often sung as two quarter notes, G, then G#. Brandon’s version doesn’t have that addition. Any thoughts?
what key are you playing the song in?
there is a chord change on the third beat of the word “love” in the chorus…and the melody can go up a whole step when that happens.
if you are in E, the chord is B to G#, the melody can go from F# to G#. (half notes)
so glad you sing the song!
deb
Where can I listen to this?
Hi, Mandy. You can listen to this a couple of places. CDBaby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/debbiedorman) and iTunes both have it available as samples. Look for the title and Debbie Dorman and you should be able to listen to it from the album. It can also be found on a on youtube at this link somewhere about 20 minutes into the sermon. It is done as an a Capella song in the Churches of Christ. Also, I have a blog entry with a little background and video on the song from another sermon at an Austin Church of Christ assembly. My blog link. If you have trouble getting to it, please let me know and we’ll try something else. Blessings
I woke up thinking of this song this morning! God bless you!
Thank you, Misty. We are blessed that you are blessed. Thanks for replying.
Hi Debbie, thank you for this beautiful work of art. This song is a favourite of my friends and I.
Best wishes from Singapore!
Thanks for letting us know, Irvin. We love hearing that you are singing it in Singapore! Blessings to you all.
Jack
That is a blessing to know, Irvin! Thanks for telling us.
God bless you!
Deb
I was ministered by this song while I was curious about other Christian denominations. It was used for a worship by Pasir Panjang Church of Christ, sung acapella. I love this. God bless you.
Love from Singapore
Thank you for blessing us by letting us know. There is wide use of this song in worship in many Churches of Christ.
This song is gorgeous as is, but it is too important and beautiful to be sequestered solely in the a capella tradition. Has anyone arranged it for the rest of the Christian world?
Hi Susan. Thank you so much for your kinds words. Actually, the a capella version you are likely hearing was recorded for the Timeless Project as one the songs to cover Psalm 124. It is an amazing project. However, my wife, Debbie, wrote it back in the 1900s (I love referring to that century) and it has been a regular part of our worship set all this time. It is part of a CD “Songs of Hope” and you can hear it on most streaming services, including youtube. You can hear our arrangement with instrumentation there The you tube link to hear it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5NCnl-uXWc&list=RDE5NCnl-uXWc&start_radio=1 We have not done a video version. 🙂
The song is song across a number of congregations. It makes us very happy to share.
Debbie and Jack! My wife and four daughters were worshipping at Hope Chapel during the time you wrote this song. I remember the first time you performed it, just after that retreat. It was powerful and beautiful then, and the same now.
I’m writing to ask how to get permission to perform the song in a worship service and simultaneously display the words to the congregation. What would the copyright statement say?
The birth of this request is this: I play electric bass and rhythm guitar where I now worship in Maryland. Very rarely, our worship leader is absent. On occasion, I lead the musical portion of worship in his absence. That will happen again in a few weeks. This morning after worship I showed him my list of candidate songs. I told him I couldn’t find one song that had popped into my head while making the list. At his request, I sang the line I knew he’d recognize: “Our help is in the name of the Lord / blessed be the Lord” for him. Twice. No recognition whatsoever, LOL.
Tonight, I realized no one where I worship knows this song, your song. I found the words and music here (thank you for both). Since the Spirit put this song on my heart so strongly, I figure I’d best introduce it when I lead worship, hence my question about permission, rights, and legal language.
By the way, I read your post about Westover Hills church of Christ using your song. That’s where we’d been worshiping before coming to Hope, in need of its role as a hospital for saints of all stripes. Westover was a very different place in those days. To close the circle on that, one of my daughters and her sweet family worship there now. Tonight, I watched the live stream of her baptizing my grandson in the same baptistry where I baptized her. God is good. Miss you!
Thank you, Kim, for this lovely response and memory. Permission to use the song is obtained through songselect / CCLI. It is song # 661644. It is actually listed by James Tackett, a lovely Church of Christ brother who publishes the Paperless Hymnal. It has been recorded by the Timeless Psalter project, of which she was a part and contributed several hymns covering all of the Psalms. https://timelesspsalter.com/ Deb has a recording of many of her songs from the time you would remember and is available on most of the streaming platforms. You can find it on youtube here https://timelesspsalter.com/ Blessings and hugs to all your family and we are honored that you remember us. PS, we are still at Hope Chapel after all these years. 🙂