"New Wine" by Hillsong United

This song may be referencing Jesus’ first miracle in John 2, which is his conversion of water to wine at a wedding in Cana. In this story, the guests run out of wine, and Jesus turns large basins of water into wine that pleases all the guests. However, there is another, more self-sacrificial element to this song.

The first lines are “in the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine.” In this case, we as God’s children are grapes that are being used to make wine. In order to become something that everyone can enjoy, as the wine was enjoyed at the wedding, we must be crushed. God is creating something wonderful out of us, in order to bless everyone around us. Furthermore, the song emphasizes the fact that God has a plan for this “crushing.” He has a “careful hand,” so all we need to do is yield to him, and he will transform us. This is a comforting fact. Whenever we feel that we are being “crushed,” we can be assured that God is creating something wonderful with us.

​The central idea of this song is giving up ourselves to the Lord. We give ourselves to Him to make new wine, we give our soil to Him to break new ground, we give our lives to Him as vessels for his purpose. We then wait expectantly for what He will do next. It is a beautiful song to sing to the Lord.