Image by Joshua Earle from Unsplash

“Stand in Your Love,” would be at home anywhere. You could play it in an arena, in a church big or small, or gathered around a campfire at night. It’s simple, easy to learn, uplifting, and catchy. It was released in mid-2018 and subsequently featured on Bethel Music’s Victory album in 2019. Since then, it has become a staple in Christian worship, and as I write this, it’s smack in the middle of CCLI’s top 100 list. What does “Stand in Your Love” mean, is it Biblical, and should you be singing it in church? Let’s investigate.

Focus

The focus of this song is the singer’s steadfastness and ability to overcome fear because of the love and power of Jesus.

This song never specifically mentions God or Jesus, and could be sung about a romantic partner except for the reference to an empty grave in the bridge. This isn’t necessarily a problem in a church service where it’s obvious that we’re singing to God, but it’s worth noting.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
This verse personifies the forces of evil, sadness, and pain, and the singer refuses to be shaken even when in the midst of them.

In the New Testament, Jesus is the light (Jn. 1:5, 8:12). His enemies are symbolized by darkness (Ac. 26:18, Col. 1:13). Darkness trying to “roll over my bones” is a poetic description of the spiritual forces of evil that try to oppress believers.

Sorrow here represents sorrowful circumstances that attempt to rob us of the joy that we have in Jesus through his Spirit (Gal. 5:22, John 15:11). Saying that brokenness and pain are “all I know” is a common hyperbole to evoke an emotional state, not a literal statement that the singer doesn’t know anything else. That would be silly.

We echo the Psalmist in saying that we won’t be shaken. This is only a true statement if we are keeping our eyes on God, following him, and counting on his strength rather than our own. This is not a statement of personal empowerment, but of God’s power. (Ps. 16:8, 62:6, Isa. 41:10)

CHORUS
“My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love”

We sing directly to God in the chorus, repeating the same line over and over as a declaration of God’s power over our fears and of our trust and confidence in him because of his love.

God tells us not to fear too many times to count in the Bible. The clearest and easiest passage of Scripture to link to this chorus is 1 John 4:18, which says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” God’s love is stronger than all the things we fear, and the more we love him, the less room there is for fear of man, devil, or circumstance in our hearts.

Standing in God’s love sounds a lot like abiding in God’s love, so let’s look at Jesus’ words in John 15:9-12.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

So what does it mean to stand or abide in God’s love? A big part of it is obedience to his commands. And a big part of that is loving one another. So standing in God’s love doesn’t just mean remembering that God loves you, it also means remembering that he loves the people around you and being a conduit of that love, lavishing it on them like God lavishes it on you.

VERSE 2

Shame, lies, and the past are our enemies in the second verse.

I think our normal understanding of shame is more private and personal than the kind of shame normally described in the Bible. The Bible speaks often of being put to shame, which feels more like public disgrace than the internal experience I associate with the word shame, and seems to be tied to being defeated or disproven. Trusting God means that we will not ultimately be put to shame or disgraced, but vindicated (Rom. 10:11, Ps. 25:1-2). With regard to the internal kind of shame, God is the one who purifies our consciences (Heb. 9:14), takes away our regret through repentance (2 Cor. 7:10), and lifts up our heads (Ps. 3:3).

Jesus is the truth, so he is the antidote to the lies the enemy breathes in our ears (John 14:6).

We can leave our past sins and regrets behind because anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and he has removed those sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12)

BRIDGE

Breaking chains is a metaphor for the freedom from sin that we have in Jesus (John 8:34-36), and God also breaks literal chains several times in Scripture (Ps. 107:10-16, Acts 16:26, Lev. 26:13).

Jesus’ power empties out several graves by resurrecting their occupants from death (John 11:43-44, Matt. 27:52), most notably his own (Matt. 28:6). We eagerly await his second coming when he will raise all of those who belong to him from our graves (1 Thess. 4:16). There’s a second meaning here as well, a sense in which we have already been resurrected from our spiritually dead state and raised to new life in Christ (Eph. 2:1-7). That is the powerful grace that saves us (Ephesians 2:8).

Jesus’ name contains the power that will cause every knee to bow (Phil. 2:10). It is the name into which we are baptized, symbolizing our death and resurrection with him (Rom. 6:3). It is the name through which God hears and answers our prayers (John 14:13).

Accessibility

This song uses everyday language and common figures of speech rather than specific Bible allusions that you have to understand in order to grasp the meaning. The only Bible reference you really need to understand is the line “power that can empty out a grave.” I think this song actually makes an easy stepping-on point for an unchurched person to begin to learn how to sing to God, since much of the language of the verses is similar to what you might hear in a counseling session or self-empowerment talk, but the chorus and bridge redirect those feelings of encouragement by telling us that the power we need comes from God, not ourselves.

If someone hears this song outside of church and they’re not paying attention to the bridge, it could be mistaken for a secular song about a romantic partner who has helped the singer overcome self-doubt and regret. In a worship service, I don’t think that’s really an issue.

Music

I’ll be describing the standard Bethel/Josh Baldwin version of the song here, but if you’re looking for a female-led version that’s less country/more pop, check out the less well-known recording by co-author Rita Springer.

A simple guitar accompaniment with a light swing rhythm guides us into this song, followed by a classic “b-boom clap” drum part on the first chorus, and then the rest of the band comes in with the full groove of the song on the following instrumental. Nothing super challenging for the band here, and the chords are pretty much the same pattern for the whole song except the bridge.

The bridge provides much-needed contrast, and the following chorus sees the band drop out and just play single hits on the chord changes while the congregation’s voice comes to the fore. We end with another big chorus and a little ad-libbable outro.

The melody and rhythm are super easy for congregants to learn, especially the chorus, which is just the same line over and over. My only musical concern is that the same simplicity that makes “Stand in Your Love” so congregational might also cause the band to tire of playing it.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Yep.

What “Stand in Your Love” lacks in specificity, it more than makes up for in accessibility. It might not explicitly reference a lot of Scripture, but the ideas presented are eminently biblical. It’s an anthem of trust in God and a commitment to the kind of boldness that Paul demonstrated in his Kingdom work. May it propel us to serve God and our neighbor with confidence by standing in and pouring out the great love that he has toward us.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.