Every time I listen to this song, I wonder why human kills each other, I wonder why there hatred among human . I wonder why human propagate bad behaviors un acceptable to the society
The key to understanding the authors thought is in the chorus. Canaan is the promised good land and is a type of Christ. He is the solid rock we stand on. We must stand on Him having our hope and faith in Him. That is higher ground.
Here are some verses I found that help to see the source of hymn. It is such a healthy aspiration!
Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalms 18: 31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God.
Isaiah 55: 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Colossians 3:2 AMP Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].
To be in the spirit is the key, the secret. In the spirit we will experience many wonderful things of Christ because we have crossed the Jordan and entered into Canaan. When we are in the spirit, we are in the rest, and we are in the Holy of Holies. Therefore, we must always renounce the natural man, the outer man. For example, many times in the Lord's work I was tempted by the enemy to quarrel with others. On those occasions I felt that my reason was right, that the case was mine, and that I had the doctrine to support me. Yet while I was trying to speak, something deep within restricted me and stopped me. In order to go along with that deep feeling, I had to drop my quarreling. Consequently, it seemed that I had nothing to say. But I can testify that every time I went along with the spirit, there was victory. If we take care of our spirit, the mighty One in our spirit will be our strength. We will be transcendent and victorious over many things. When we come to the meetings, we will come with many items of Christ to contribute, either in prayer, singing, giving a testimony, or speaking a short word. Philippians 4:13 says, "I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me." But where does Christ empower us? He empowers us in our spirit. Our mind is the stronghold and the open gate for the enemy, but our spirit is the base for the Lord to do His work. Thus, when we go along with the mind, we are defeated, even though we may be doing something good. But if we go along with the spirit, we will be victorious. We will be on a high mountain, on higher ground, and, in the words of a hymn, "on Canaan's tableland" (Hymns, #396). We will be in the heavens and will be transcendent.