Past Commentary by a Common Terry
Said I wasn't gonna talk about it...
August 30, 2026
It’s a song for the younger crowd—heard it a lot at devotionals and at camp. Every verse has a variation of the same theme:
Said I wasn’t gonna talk about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna sing about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna pray about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna shout about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
And then comes the chorus:
You oughta been there…
When He saved my soul!
You oughta been there…
When He put my name on the roll!
I’ll keep walking and I’ll keep talking
And I’ll keep singing and I’ll keep shouting
What Lord...has...done...for...me!
And there are movements and clapping and shouting—it’s an energy-filled song! It also has a spot-on Biblically true premise.
The believer—the saved-from-sin-and-restored-to-God-and-name-written-in-the-Book-of-Life believer—can’t help but talk about it! How could we never mention the greatest gift ever given to us, and by the Creator of the Universe, no less? And at the cost of His own Son?!
Which brings me back to Psalm 51, the great psalm of repentance written by David. He was desperate to be restored to God. His spiritual panic was built on the realization that his choices and sins might separate him from the Presence of God at the price of losing the Holy Spirit.
David was certain of one outcome of God’s forgiveness and healing in his life. Once it happened, there was no way he would keep that to himself. No way!
After God would restore him, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (verse 13) “Deliver me….and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.” (verse 14) “O LORD, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” (verse 15)
David did not see himself as a victim of circumstances, bad luck, or wicked influences after his terrible sins involving adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder, by proxy, of her husband. He saw himself only as a victim of his own sinful nature and inability to fix his damaged soul. He had to have the help of the Divine Father if he would ever move past the guilt and burden.
God gave all that to him. He knew God forgave him. He knew God would not reject his contrite heart. (verse 17) In Psalm 103:12, David wrote that, “...as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” I wonder if the prophet Micah had David’s psalms in mind when he ended his prophetic words in Micah 7:19 with, “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
Twice in the book of Hebrews, the writer assured the readers that God does not just forgive, but He forgets! It is one of many reasons the law and covenant of Christ is superior to the old Mosaic law and covenant. They had a yearly reminder of sins. God forgives and forgets.
In Hebrews 8:12, quoting from Jeremiah 31:34, he wrote the words and promise of God, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” He reemphasized it again in 10:17.
Forgive and forget! That is a God thing! One of Satan’s most hurtful weapons against us is the constant prodding of memory and the reminder of failures and sins. The counterweight to that, tipping the scale to goodness and deliverance, is God’s consistent message: “I don’t remember that. It is gone. If I have forgotten it, then don’t let anyone or anything drive you back into that guilt and regret. It’s so far away, it’s like it’s been buried in the sea. You’ll never find it.”
David said he wouldn’t just celebrate his own deliverance. He would tell people about it. He would make sure others know they can have that same chance at healing. Can’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna talk about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna sing about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna pray about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
Said I wasn’t gonna shout about it,
but I...couldn’t keep it to myself!
And then comes the chorus:
You oughta been there…
When He saved my soul!
You oughta been there…
When He put my name on the roll!
I’ll keep walking and I’ll keep talking
And I’ll keep singing and I’ll keep shouting
What Lord...has...done...for...me!
And there are movements and clapping and shouting—it’s an energy-filled song! It also has a spot-on Biblically true premise.
The believer—the saved-from-sin-and-restored-to-God-and-name-written-in-the-Book-of-Life believer—can’t help but talk about it! How could we never mention the greatest gift ever given to us, and by the Creator of the Universe, no less? And at the cost of His own Son?!
Which brings me back to Psalm 51, the great psalm of repentance written by David. He was desperate to be restored to God. His spiritual panic was built on the realization that his choices and sins might separate him from the Presence of God at the price of losing the Holy Spirit.
David was certain of one outcome of God’s forgiveness and healing in his life. Once it happened, there was no way he would keep that to himself. No way!
After God would restore him, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (verse 13) “Deliver me….and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.” (verse 14) “O LORD, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” (verse 15)
David did not see himself as a victim of circumstances, bad luck, or wicked influences after his terrible sins involving adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder, by proxy, of her husband. He saw himself only as a victim of his own sinful nature and inability to fix his damaged soul. He had to have the help of the Divine Father if he would ever move past the guilt and burden.
God gave all that to him. He knew God forgave him. He knew God would not reject his contrite heart. (verse 17) In Psalm 103:12, David wrote that, “...as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” I wonder if the prophet Micah had David’s psalms in mind when he ended his prophetic words in Micah 7:19 with, “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
Twice in the book of Hebrews, the writer assured the readers that God does not just forgive, but He forgets! It is one of many reasons the law and covenant of Christ is superior to the old Mosaic law and covenant. They had a yearly reminder of sins. God forgives and forgets.
In Hebrews 8:12, quoting from Jeremiah 31:34, he wrote the words and promise of God, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” He reemphasized it again in 10:17.
Forgive and forget! That is a God thing! One of Satan’s most hurtful weapons against us is the constant prodding of memory and the reminder of failures and sins. The counterweight to that, tipping the scale to goodness and deliverance, is God’s consistent message: “I don’t remember that. It is gone. If I have forgotten it, then don’t let anyone or anything drive you back into that guilt and regret. It’s so far away, it’s like it’s been buried in the sea. You’ll never find it.”
David said he wouldn’t just celebrate his own deliverance. He would tell people about it. He would make sure others know they can have that same chance at healing. Can’t keep it to myself!