Image by Stephane Yaich from Unsplash

“Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” is the work of songwriters Austin Davis, Chandler Moore, and Cody Carnes. Carnes released it first as a solo single in 2021 and then in collaboration with Moore and Maverick City Music in 2022. I heard this song first in the fall when a friend shared it with me while I was going through a difficult time, having recently lost a couple of close family members. It was precisely the song I needed to hear and sing to God in my personal worship times. It felt like so many things in my life were shaking, and this song was a reminder of the solid foundation that I have in Jesus, who never fails. Here’s a look at the theology and music of “Firm Foundation (He Won’t).”

Focus

The clear focus of this song is Christ’s unfailing faithfulness. The choruses say over and over “he won’t fail” while the verses and bridge dwell on the peace the singer experiences in relying on Jesus.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
“Christ is my firm foundation // the rock on which I stand”

Scriptural basis for calling Jesus our foundation is found in 1 Corinthians 3:11, where Paul tells the believers they are “God’s building” and says no matter who their teachers are, the only foundation worth building on is Jesus Christ. (This harks back to Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:46-49 about building one’s house upon the rock, which we’ll discuss more in the bridge.) Paul says something similar in Ephesians 2:20, but here the teaching of the apostles and prophets is called the foundation, and Jesus is called the cornerstone, or the foundation of the foundation. Everything in the Bible, everything in our faith, everything in the Church, everything in our understanding of God, it all has to be built on Jesus.

God’s steadfast love is truly “faithful through generations” (Ex. 34:6, 1 Chron. 16:34, Ps. 36:5). Faithfulness is an unchanging, eternal aspect of God’s character (Rom. 3:2-4, Heb. 13:8, 1 Cor. 1:9). One of the central ideas throughout Scripture is the covenant, a solemn relationship between God and his people where both sides (usually) have promises and expectations to fulfill. God makes several covenants with his people in the Bible, and the short summary is this: we are never able to follow through and live up to our end of the deal, but God always upholds his end of the covenant (2 Tim 2:13, Deut. 7:9).

The line “he’s never let me down” is a little trickier to support, and I think it’s the line with the most potential for misunderstanding. It’s a central line to the meaning of the song, and I think it is a true, scriptural statement, even though it’s phrased in contemporary language rather than quoting a specific Bible verse. “He’s never let me down” is another way of saying he’s always kept his promises, always upheld his covenants.

But what about the times when we feel like God has let us down? First, we need to remember that just because we feel like God has let us down, it doesn’t mean that he has. God allowed horrible tragedies to befall Job and make him miserable. Job complained to God about it and challenged his fairness. God responds in Job 38-41 with a jaw-dropping list of things that God did in creation, or that he does now on a daily basis that are far beyond human ability or comprehension. At the end of it, Job is humbled and says in Job 42:2-3, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted . . . Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” So the first step in confronting our disappointment or anger with God at how things have gone is to recognize his greatness and wisdom. We can’t see the whole picture, and we need to trust that our God can, and that he cares for us. Even the worst things that happen to us in this life will ultimately be for our good, because God is in control and he cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7, Rom. 8:28).

CHORUS
This song is in the running for fewest lyrics in a chorus, and there’s a lot of competition for that title in the worship genre! The entire text is “he won’t fail.”

Scripture is clear that God never fails. I’ll quote Job 42:2 again because it’s so powerful and all-encompassing: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s word always succeeds in accomplishing his purpose for it. Hebrews 7:16 says that in Jesus is the “power of an indestructible life.” 2 Chron. 20:6 says that no one can stand against the Lord.

So what is this unfailing purpose of God? Ephesians 1:3-14 tells us. His purpose is to unite all things in heaven and on earth in Jesus, redeeming us by his blood and lavishing his grace on us, adopting us into his family and giving us an eternal inheritance with him, all sealed and guaranteed by the presence of his Holy Spirit in us. That’s great news!

VERSE 2

James and Peter agree that even in suffering, believers in Jesus have a source of joy (Jam. 1:2, 1 Pet. 1:8). Paul tells us that peace surpassing all understanding will guard us when we bring our concerns to God with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6-7). “Going under” is an idiom for drowning, being utterly defeated, and those who trust in Jesus will not ultimately be defeated or put to shame (Ps. 25:2-3). We are upheld by God’s strength and his hand, not our own (Isa. 41:10). The rest of this verse repeats themes we’ve already discussed.

BRIDGE

“Rain came and wind blew // But my house was built on You“

All of “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” draws thematically on Luke 6:46-49 and Matthew 7:24-27, but the bridge makes this connection even clearer. In this parable, Jesus says that those who hear and follow his teachings are like a wise man who lays the foundation of his house on solid rock instead of lazily building it on unstable surface dirt or sand. When storms and floods come, the house on the rock stands firm but the house on sand is destroyed.

The line “I’m safe with you” calls to mind Proverbs 18:10, which uses another biblical building metaphor: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

So the bridge recognizes that we will be safe, not in the sense that we won’t experience storms and floods, but in the sense that we won’t be drowned or destroyed by them. Our guaranteed inheritance is with God in the coming new creation, not here and now on Earth (1 Pet 1:4).

Accessibility

I think this song is very accessible. It’s clear, emotional, and faithful to Scripture. The metaphor of our lives being built on Jesus is simple, but also deep and rich, something that speaks to the new believer and the seasoned saint alike.

Singing this song in spirit and in truth does require some understanding that God’s faithfulness is not a guarantee that we will not suffer in this life. God is often faithful to us by providing peace, joy, faith, and hope through our suffering rather than just giving us an easy way out of it. I think this song embraces that truth by talking about rain, wind , and chaos, and describing a response of faith during those trials.

“Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” also carries an unspoken caveat common to many songs about God’s goodness and his faithfulness: these wonderful promises are not guaranteed for everybody, only those who know and follow God. Who does Jesus say builds a house on the rock? Everyone “who hears these words of mine and does them” (Matt. 7:24). In fact, God’s faithfulness to his covenant with Israel also meant faithfulness to the covenant curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28 when they repeatedly chose disobedience. For the believer in Jesus, we can trust that even God’s discipline is an expression of his love, “for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6).

Music

This song always fools me into thinking it’s “Graves into Gardens” during the intro. We start off with a standard guitar strum and the piano just plays the chord changes. The first musical moment that stands out is at the brief buildup/dropout at the end of verse 1 to emphasize the words “He won’t.” This is repeated in several places through the song. I also really love the swift chord changes on “go-ing un-der” in verse 2. It’s a really cool way to bring the bass into the song. This time, we get to sing a complete chorus and we’ve got some toms underneath to build energy. The following repeat of verse 1 is a nonstop snare build that really drives the faithfulness of God home and launches us back into a big “He won’t” chorus. From there (in typical worship song fashion) we drop down for a very chill, heartfelt bridge. The anthemic skips set this portion of the melody apart. The bridge builds into an instrumental channel that launches us into an even bigger chorus that abruptly dies down into an intimate acoustic-and-voices finale.

In my opinion, this song fuses familiar elements of current worship music with just enough innovation to make it unique while still blending well into the church library. This familiarity makes it easy to pick up and the innovations make it fun to sing. It’s repetitive and melodically simple enough that congregations should be able to learn it easily, and none of the instrumental parts are especially challenging. Just make sure you and your band drop out together in the right places and that your drummer is patient enough for a really long snare build or two!

(Having now done this song a couple times in worship, I will add that those walk-downs on “going under” and “around me is shaken” are pretty tricky. They’re tuplets, so they present a significant challenge for the band in getting the timing just right.)

Conclusions

Will it worship? For sure.

“Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” is really a meditation on Jesus’ parable about the wise builder. It explores the theme of suffering and trusting God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials. I think it will be easy for congregations to learn and meaningful for people at all levels of faith. This song is both a reflection on God’s faithfulness in the past and a breastplate of faith against future hardship. I am confident that it will be a blessing in churches that choose to sing it.

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.