Cody Carnes

THE DOVE – Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Passion, The Belonging Co.

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

I don’t usually gravitate toward Holy Spirit songs. I’m not exactly a cessationist, but I grew up with the idea that the Holy Spirit primarily acts as the Christian’s conscience, helping us to know right and wrong, and maybe prompting us to share the Gospel or do something nice for someone once in a while. I often feel that songs focused on the Holy Spirit are too centered on a certain emotional experience or the outpouring of charismatic spiritual gifts.

“The Dove” is different. This song by Andrew Holt, Austin Davis, Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe traces the imagery of the Dove as a representation of God’s Spirit from the beginning of creation to the present. I’ve never seen this particular image drawn out through worship lyrics, and I hadn’t previously made some of the connections this song makes. These things made me excited to try this song out and dig deeper into its meaning! But is “The Dove” Biblical? What do the lyrics mean? And will it worship?

Focus

This song is all about the Holy Spirit, his different roles, and our need for him. It tells the story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption through the dove imagery that appears throughout Scripture. It also considers the connection between Jesus’ work and the presence of his Spirit.

This song touches on all three Persons of the Trinity, especially the Holy Spirit and Christ the Son. The Father is identified less specifically. In a couple places, the song refers to the Holy Spirit as “it,” but

“The Dove” includes the singing congregation as “we,” dwelling on our need and desire for more of the Holy Spirit. In the final verse, the individual “I” finds a moment for humble reflection and an opportunity to personally invite the Spirit to dwell within.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
The story of the Dove begins in Genesis 1. In the very second verse of the Bible, we see the Spirit of God fluttering (or hovering or brooding) over the unorganized, pre-creation waters. The Bible doesn’t speak of a dove here, but saying that the Spirit was fluttering over the waters suggests the image of a bird. This line introduces us to the Spirit’s role in creation.

God speaks, ordering the cosmos in six days, and then after he makes man in his image, he calls the whole creation good. At first, man and woman dwell in the garden with God. We don’t get many details about their relationship in the text, but much later in the Bible, Jesus calls his followers his “friends,” so we see that this is the kind of relationship God desires to have with us (John 15:15).

CHORUS 1
The first chorus is simple. We say that all we need is more of the Holy Spirit. We ask him to give us more. What does that mean? The answer here is pretty subjective, and is going to vary by church and individual.

In my understanding of Scripture, you either have the Holy Spirit or you don’t. You don’t receive 10% of the Spirit at your baptism, 20% when you get really emotional at church sometime, and then the rest at a later date. God dwells within you fully when you turn to him and spiritually join Jesus in his death and resurrection (Acts 2:38).

What can and should increase is the influence and prominence of the Spirit in your life. When I pray for more of the Holy Spirit, I’m joining John the Baptist when he said of Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:39-31). I’m asking the Spirit to fill my life with more of his fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and to kill the fruit of evil and selfishness within me (Gal. 5:19-20). I’m also asking the Spirit to give me the spiritual gifts I need to serve better in his church. This is the purpose of spiritual gifts: to serve one another (1 Pet. 4:10). So when I ask for more of the Spirit, I’m not exactly asking for more of the Spirit. I’m really offering him more control of my life, and asking for his work to be more and more evident in me.

I briefly wondered if it is wrong to say that all we need is more of the Spirit. After all, we need Jesus and the Father too! But I think that’s a misguided concern. When we exalt one member of the Trinity, we exalt them all. After all, when God the Father exalts Jesus, giving him the name above every other name, he isn’t in any way diminishing his own glory (Phil. 2:5-11).

VERSE 2
Now, “The Dove” addresses the consequences of sin and the Holy Spirit’s response. The songwriters do this through the story of the Flood. This narrative begins with creation so ruined and corrupted by sin that God regrets having made it (Gen. 6:5-7). The Flood destroys all humanity except Noah and his family, and then when the waters begin to recede, Noah sends out a dove. Initially, the dove can’t find anywhere to land because there is too much water, but then the dove brings back an olive branch, and then it fails to return because it has finally find a place to build its nest (8:6-12). In this song, this dove is a metaphor for the activity of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, God’s Spirit sometimes “rushes upon” various people to empower them in battle or to prophesy. And He finds a temporary dwelling place in the Temple, but then the Temple is destroyed. When we get to the New Testament, the Spirit of God descends in Jesus at his baptism, and this time the dwelling is permanent. Jesus is the true Vine, and we are the branches, nourished in him to bear spiritual fruit and love one another (John 15:1-17). He is our redeemer and the source of our eternal life.

CHORUS 2
This chorus introduces some new material in the form of four titles applied to the Holy Spirit: Truth, Living Water, Helper, and Healer. These titles illustrated four of the main ways the Spirit works in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is the Truth because he teaches us the things of God and helps us to remember Jesus’ words (John 14:17, 14:26). The Holy Spirit is the Living Water that Jesus promises us. He not only satisfies our spiritual thirst, but overflows from our hearts to nourish and refresh others (John 7:37-39). Jesus calls the Spirit the Helper and sends him to us to dwell with us forever, since Jesus is no longer physically present with his people (John 14:16). We need the Holy Spirit’s help to complete the Church’s mission of making disciples and building God’s Kingdom, and he is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to be with us in that mission (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:6-8). The Holy Spirit is the source of spiritual gifts, including every gift of healing that God provides (1 Cor. 12:9), and even more importantly, he is the power that raised Christ from the dead and that raises us to new life in Christ now and forever (Rom. 8:11).

BRIDGE:
The Upper Room is where the first disciples received the Holy Spirit on the Jewish holiday of Pentecost. He appeared to them as tongues of fire resting on each of them on accompanied by the sound of a mighty rushing wind. The Spirit enabled them to speak in other languages so that the visiting Jews from all over the world would be able to hear the Gospel (Acts 2:1-13).

In evoking this scene and asking God to pour out his Spirit in the same way, we’re not asking for the same visible manifestations of tongues of fire, rushing wind, and speaking in other languages. Rather, we are asking for the Holy Spirit to empower us for ministry and fill us with his light to shine forth the Good News about Jesus and his Kingdom.

VAMP:
As the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is worthy to be worshiped as “holy, holy, holy,” the same cry that never ceases around God’s throne (Rev. 4:8, Isa. 6:3).

Calling God holy means that he is set apart, different from us, morally pure and perfect, sacred. Throughout the Bible, when something unholy (like our sin) comes into contact with something holy, either the holy thing becomes polluted, or in the case of God’s presence, the source of sin is destroyed. Because of Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection, God’s Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and make us holy instead of destroying us in our sin. The Bible Project has an excellent video that does a much better job of explaining this idea of God’s holiness.

VERSE 3:
Probably my favorite part of the song, this verse connects the work of the Holy Spirit to the work of Christ.

In Acts 2:38, Peter tells the listening multitude “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” So the presence of the Spirit is possible because of the forgiveness we have in Jesus’ death. Moreover, it is connected directly to baptism, which is our act of joining Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3).

For a deep dive into how we are cleansed by Jesus’ blood, see my review on “Thank You Jesus for the Blood.”

At the end of this verse, we finally tie the whole narrative of the Dove together. Throughout the song, we’ve seen the Dove searching for a place to create, or to recreate, and he found a resting place on Jesus at his baptism. Now, that same Spirit is transforming us into the image of Christ! Put another way, Christ is being formed in us (Gal. 4:18-19).

So we see this beautiful picture that the Dove of the Spirit is resting on the image of Jesus being formed inside each one of us. There’s a beautiful sense of completion and rightness here. This is how God intended to dwell among us; it’s been his plan ever since the beginning.

Accessibility

This one’s deep! I think most people will understand portions of the song, but the full meaning isn’t clear without a wealth of Biblical background knowledge. Having said that, this song teaches the story of God from a fresh perspective and a different angle, and it illuminates the work of the Holy Spirit in a way I think is unique and valuable.

People might misunderstand what it means to ask for more of the Holy Spirit, or to ask for another Pentecost, or what “the Christ in me” is, especially if they have been influenced by charismatic or new age theology.

I think the melody of this song is singable and congregational. It repeats itself a lot and is easy to learn, except possibly the bridge.

Music

This song tells an epic story, and it needs some time to do it! The live version of “The Dove” is 10 minutes long, and I’ve managed to shorten it to about 7:00, but that’s all I can do without seriously reducing the effectiveness of the lyrics. With this kind of marathon worship song, dynamics are super important. It’s got to start soft and stay that way for a while, so the lead vocalist needs to support the song with intensity rather than volume. In the second half of the song, a couple of strategic builds accentuate the majesty of God’s Spirit finding a dwelling place with his people through Christ the Son.

The chord progression is familiar and doesn’t pose any particular challenges, except that no one likes to play in Ab, so I suggest lowering it a half step to G. The quick passing chords in the chorus and bridge give the song forward motion. As I mentioned, the lead vocalist has to carry a lot of weight in this song, especially in dynamics and range (octave +5). The instrumentalists shouldn’t have much difficulty with this one.

Conclusions

I knew this one was going to take some analysis, but I feel like I learned a lot about the Holy Spirit through studying this song! “The Dove” is a magical unicorn of a worship song that teaches deep things about God and his story through fresh lyrics and imagery. It never feels stilted or belabored, and it also doesn’t get mushy about the Holy Spirit or focus too much on feeling the Spirit, which Holy Spirit songs sometimes have a tendency to do. It’s congregational, and I think the complexity of the lyrics serve to call the people to a better understanding of God’s Spirit rather than to confuse them. My only concern is the challenge of leading this song vocally.

Will it worship? 100%. I’m grateful for this song and the spiritual nourishment it is providing me and my congregation!

Image by Lenstravelier from Unsplash

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.

FIRM FOUNDATION (HE WON’T) – Cody Carnes, Chandler Moore, Maverick City Music

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

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.