A few weeks ago, the pastor of my church mentioned that there was a line in a song we sing that he would like changed. The song is called Authority by Elevation Worship. In that song, there is a bridge that goes:
Will Heaven not prevail and strongholds not be moved?
Will spirits not be silenced and cower at His rule?
For if my God is for me then what have I to fear?
And I will not deny Him the glory that is His
The specific lyric in question was “And I will not deny Him the glory that is His”. He said that his problem is that we cannot deny God the glory even if we wanted to. I know some people will immediately defend the song and say that this point isn’t taking into consideration the intent of the song. I would argue that every time you sing a song in church, you should actively consider what the lyrics are saying. Don’t just allow the lyrics to flow through your mouth without really understanding what you are saying.
There are several songs that we sing that I cannot bring myself to sing certain lyrics.
Do It Again (Elevation Worship):
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You’ve never failed me yet
My major issue with this song is a little 3-letter word: yet. Yet implies that, although something hasn’t happened, the possibility remains for it to happen:
- I haven’t gone to the store, yet.
- I haven’t started the dishwasher, yet.
- Team _______ hasn’t won (or lost), yet.
But here, the lyric says that God has never failed me, yet. It leaves the door open to the possibility that God will fail me in the future.
Similarly, I have another issue with the lyrics. It says, “You’ve never failed me yet”. This puts the focus on me instead of God. It makes it sound like I’m in charge, and God works for me. He will either do what I want, or He will fail me. This song has some good lyrics, but this one line is problematic. Whenever my church sings it, I still join in. However, I cut this line short, and just sing, “You’ve never failed”. The meaning is still there, but it takes the controversy away.
Highlands Song of Ascent (Hillsong United):
Whatever I walk through
Wherever I am
Your name can move mountains
Wherever I stand
And if ever I walk through
The valley of death
I’ll sing through the shadows
My song of ascent
Again, this song has many great parts to it, but there is still one line: “And if ever I walk through the valley of death”. How can I have a problem with this line? It’s scriptural!
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; (Ps. 23:4a ESV)
This verse says, “the valley of the shadow of death”, not “the valley of death”. I know it seems as if I’m just splitting hairs on this one, but I do believe the word “shadow” makes a huge difference. I explained this in a previous post:
I have often looked at this scripture and noticed that it says the valley of the shadow of death, and not the valley of death. I think this is significant. Think about it this way. If you were walking down the center of the interstate highway, and a semi came up at 70 MPH and was about to hit you, that would be something to fear. Now, if you were walking on the shoulder of the highway, and that same semi came up, still doing 70, and its shadow hit you, then there would be nothing to fear. Personally, I would rather be hit by the shadow than the truck.
As a Christian, you do not walk through the valley of death. Christ took the sting of death away:
Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:55-57 NASB)
Understanding that we are only affected by death’s shadow and not death itself is a foundational belief.
Again, when it comes to singing this song, I simply make an adjustment. I change the line to:
And if ever I walk through
The shadow of death
Resurrecting (Elevation Worship):
The tomb where soldiers watched in vain
Was borrowed for three days
His body there would not remain
Our God has robbed the grave
Often, when singing this song, this last line elicits applause, shouts of victory, clapping, etc. from the congregation in my church. However, this line is very problematic.
Robbing a grave is usually seen as a negative thing. Grave robbers illegally open a grave to plunder whatever may be buried with the deceased. This song lyric makes it sound as if God took the body of Christ so that it would not be seen. This lyric alone takes away from the resurrection of Christ and dumbs it down to a mere theft. There is another lyric elsewhere in the song that says, “The resurrected King is resurrecting me”. However, the congregation does not usually respond to that line with anywhere near the vigor for “Our God has robbed the grave”.
You may tell me that the congregation knows that this line is referencing the resurrection of Jesus. However, words matter. By saying “Our God has robbed the grave”, you are accusing God of what the soldiers were afraid the disciples might do:
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” (Matt. 27:62-64 ESV)
When singing this song, I do not even try to fix this line. I simply don’t sing it.
People say to me that my objections do not take into consideration the intent of the song. I agree. However, I am not qualified to say what the intent of the song is because I am not the songwriter. No song should be written such that the audience must decide what the intent of the lyrics are. If the songwriters had a purpose behind their lyrics, then that is what they should have said. It should not be up to the singers to interpret what that purpose is.
Along those same lines, whatever lyrics are being sung, each person should be purposely singing them. What I mean is that your mind must be engaged with what your mouth is saying. You need to let each lyric mean something to you.
- Don’t just absently sing lyrics because you are used to them.
- Understand what the lyrics mean (not just what you think the author’s intention was).
- Sing it like you mean it!
There are a lot of songs out there that I think have at least one line that is a little off. Sometimes, I think it just might be me being too picky. Other times, I am sure that the lyrics need to be cleared up. Most of these songwriters are incredibly talented. There is no reason that any of their songs should contain questionable content when it comes to the Bible.
This was just a quick overview of my thoughts on this topic. I used three examples but did not go into much depth. I came across another person’s blog that shares my sentiment for the song Resurrecting. His article is more thorough than mine! You can read it here: Did God Rob the Grave?
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