Maverick City

I THANK GOD – Maverick City Music, UPPERROOM, Dante Bowe

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

I try to list artists who have covered a song in the title of my review to make it easier for people to find, but with this one, there are so many! “I Thank God,” written by Aaron Moses, Chuck Butler, Dante Bowe, Enrique Holmes, Jesse Cline, and Maryanne J. George, seems to have taken worship world by storm over the last couple of years. It’s a relentlessly joyful anthem of gratitude, and it’s almost impossible not to clap along to.

I think another reason people love “I Thank God” is the way it fosters church unity. On Loop Community’s “Top Selling Songs” page, it is consistently in the top five in the Praise & Worship and Gospel categories. I think the genre blurring and racially unifying character of this song is part of what makes it so special. Black and white congregations celebrate their salvation together every week with this song.

So what is this smash hit about? Why exactly are we thanking God? Why can’t Hell keep track of anybody? And who are you calling a bag of bones? Is “I Thank God” biblical, and will it worship? Keep reading, and we’ll find out!

Focus

This song is all about gratitude toward God for saving us. It tells the story of converting from wandering lost in sin to being found and given new life in Jesus.

This song talks about God in 3rd person, calling Master, Savior, and God. No trinitarian specificity, but Master and Savior are both titles applied to Jesus specifically throughout the New Testament

What are the main themes of the song? Is it God-centered or me-centered? How does it address God?

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Bad news: the bag of bones is you. Verse 1 describes the condition of the singer before encountering God. They’re wandering, drifting, trying and failing, looking for shelter, lifeless like a skeleton (cf. Ez. 37:1-14, the Valley of Dry Bones). This sounds a little bit like Paul’s description of life apart from Christ in Ephesians 2:1-6. He calls us children of disobedience, following the ways of the world, lost in the passions of the flesh, dead in our trespasses, until God steps in.

PRE-CHORUS 1
In this brief, transitional section, the singer encounters Jesus for the first time. The image of a road calls to mind Saul/Paul’s first meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. The whole direction of his life is changed through this single encounter with the Lord (Ac. 9:1-22).

Jesus tells us that we’re not alone in a few different places, notably in the Great Commission, when he tells his followers, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20), and when he promises that his Spirit will swell in us and with us after he departs to be with the Father (Jn. 14:15-17). I think it’s important that in both of these passages, the presence of God is connected with obedience to Jesus’ commands. So if we want to experience God’s nearness, we ought to follow his instructions and be about his mission.

CHORUS
In this part of the song, we do what the title says and thank God for several things, calling him our Master and Savior. Master and Savior are both titles of Jesus used in the New Testament (Ac. 5:38, Jd. 1:4), and they emphasize that Jesus both offers us grace, salvation, and forgiveness, and that he deserves our trust and obedience. Indeed, calling him Master is itself an expression of surrender to his will. It’s interesting to me that whenever the disciples in the Gospel of Luke call Jesus Master, they’re in the process of totally missing the point of what he’s doing. So perhaps using this title can also remind us that we too miss the picture of what God is doing, and we’re all on a journey of growing closer to him.

The first two lines of the chorus draw on Psalm 40:2 where God lifts David up from the pit and puts his feet on solid rock. They also emphasize the act of repentance and God’s role in it. We are unable to turn ourselves around on our own; we need God’s grace to turn us away from sin and toward him. Repentance requires human action, but it is always a response to God’s saving grace. We also find another connection to obedience here, in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish builders, Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Do you want to feel solid ground under your feet? Turn to Jesus and do what he says!

Healing hearts isn’t a phrase that the Bible uses often, but it’s certainly something Jesus does (Ps. 147:3, Ps. 34:18). However, healing is regularly connected to the forgiveness of sin throughout the Bible (see these verses). Healing can be physical, mental, or emotional, but it’s always connected to the spirit which needs to be healed from sin. So when this songs talks about healing the heart, I think it’s primarily referring to the healing of sin-sickness in the spirit of the person who turns to Jesus.

Receiving a new name is another feature Saul/Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus (Ac. 9:1-22). When Jesus calls us to repentance and heals us from our sins, he also gives us a new identity that is centered on him and his Kingdom (Rev. 2:17). We are no longer slaves of the world, but sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:15). We are set free from the chains of sin in order to live in love toward God and others (Gal. 5:1, 13).

VERSE 2
I have some hesitation toward this verse. The singer describes seeing such evidence for Jesus that he has no choice but to believe, and his doubts burn up and evaporate in the wind. He sends burden and bitterness packing, declaring them no longer welcome in his life. None of this is bad exactly, and the authors are certainly describing experiences that many Christians have, but I don’t think these lyrics will speak to everyone in the congregation, and they may be discouraging to some who find themselves struggling with doubt or bitterness. This verse implies that those things shrivel up and vanish immediately when one turns to Christ, when in reality, Christians often struggle with doubt, bitterness, and other burdens throughout their lives. I worry that the blithe, joyful tone of this verse might brush aside the serious concerns and struggles of people in the congregation who need encouragement.

“No choice but to believe” also sounds pretty Calvinist, so if your church doesn’t lean that way, it might be an awkward line to sing.

PRE-CHORUS 2:
I wasn’t sure if streets of gold were actually mentioned in the Bible, but they are! Again, in Revelation, John sees the New Jerusalem, where God and his people will dwell forever, and describes the streets as pure gold (Rv. 21:21). So the singer is promising to continue singing about God’s saving grace until he reaches that eternal city.

The line about the wayward son is a reference to the story of the Prodigal Son, one of the most poignant pictures of God’s love in the Bible (Luke 15:11-32).

BRIDGE
There’s only one line here, and it’s pretty straightforward. In celebrating our salvation, we are celebrating the truth that Jesus has saved us from death, sin, and hell. When we say “hell lost another one,” we are declaring that the forces of evil no longer have any claim on us; we are bound for heaven, not hell.

It’s worth mentioning here that Christian freedom does not mean freedom from all constraints or freedom to do whatever we want. It means being released from bondage to sin so that our hearts are free to love God and do his will, to love others and serve them (Gal. 5:1, 13).

SPONTANEOUS STUFF
The remainder of this song’s lyrics have the character of spontaneous praise and exhortation. I imagine they came to the worship leader on the spot while leading this song, and then became incorporated into its text.

The most repeated statement here is “Get up out of that grave.” This is a straightforward exhortation to the congregation to leave their lives of sin, deadness, and lostness and turn toward Jesus. It echoes Jesus’ command to Lazarus and offers an invitation to join in the abundant, resurrected life of Christ.

The “If he did it for me, he can do it for you,” part is saying that if Jesus can raise me to new life, he can do the same for you. This phrase is a good reminder that we can and should share Christ with our neighbors by sharing the testimonies of how he’s changed our lives.

I have no idea what the line “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” means in this song. It comes from Revelation 19:10, and in its context there, it seems to mean that the heart of any true prophecy is the Gospel, or the testimony of Jesus. This makes sense in Revelation, since John has just received this huge, astounding vision, and he falls down at the feet of an angel to worship it. The angel rebukes him and tells him to worship only God. So it seems to be a statement that prophecy is about the glory of Jesus, no one else. Again, I’m not really sure how that connects to this song. My guess is that the church in which this song was written engages regularly in prophetic utterances, and this line might make more sense in that context where prophecy is frequently discussed and practiced.

Accessibility

I find “I Thank God” pretty easy to understand. It uses clear metaphors to paint a picture of being lost and then finding (or being found by) God. As mentioned above, I do have a concern about verse 2. I think it gives the impression that the Christian life is doubt-free and burden-free, which just isn’t the case (Jn. 16:33, Jd. 1:21-22). I also think you should leave out the spontaneous section at the end; it makes the song go on forever and adds the confusing part about the spirit of prophecy.

The melody of this song is super catchy and relatively easy to learn. The rhythms are repetitive which helps a lot. The range is an octave and a fifth, which is pretty wide, but not unusual for a worship song. So it’s fairly singable but rangy.

Music

“I Thank God” is full of energy! Like I said before, it’s almost impossible not to clap or bounce along to the beat. The fusion of CCM worship and black gospel styles is extremely appealing and unifying for a wide range of worshipers.

For the band, the chords don’t do anything crazy. There are some gospel licks in there, but they’re extra things that individual band members can learn, not obligatory parts of the chord progression. I’m not a drummer, but this one sounds like it would be difficult to play on drums. This song isn’t too difficult for the worship leader as long as it’s transposed into a singable key for him or her.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Maybe.

This song has a lot going for it! The music is great, and the lyrics are joyful, uplifting, Christ-centered, and tell the story of salvation. Unfortunately, verse 2 paints a simplistic picture of leaving behind doubts and struggles rather than continuing to face them with Jesus’ presence and strength. I just keep thinking about how it might make someone facing doubts and obstacles feel like they’re an inferior Christian for not yet being totally freed from those things.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh on verse 2? Should I interpret it differently? Let me know in the comments and share your vote in the poll below.

Image by Courtney Cook on 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.

REST ON US – Maverick City Music, Brandon Lake, Eniola Abioye

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

Maverick City Music has taken the worship world by storm over the last few years, and “Rest on Us” is one of a string of worship hits that have charted on CCLI. The song is a corporate cry for the experience of God’s Spirit and its easy melody and repetitive lyrics carry the listener along on a tide of prayer and longing. But is it the kind of prayer that we want to sing with our congregations? Is it the right kind of longing? Is “Rest on Us” biblical? Let’s see.

Focus

This song is a plea for the presence of God’s Spirit. It asks the Spirit to move, to fill the worshipers, to let Heaven in, and (as indicated by the title) to rest on the worshipers. It declares that the Spirit is all the singer wants.

Lyric Analysis

SONG TITLE

What does it mean for the Holy Spirt to rest on us (or fill us)? This is the central line of the song, so let’s make sure we understand it well before we look at the rest of the lyrics.

The Old Testament doesn’t use this language often, but it tells us that the Spirit rested on the elders of Israel and that they temporarily prophesied as a result (Num. 11:25-26). Isaiah also prophesies about the Messiah in Isaiah 11:2, saying, “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

The OT says that the Spirit rushed upon David (1 Sam. 16:13), Saul (10:10), and Samson (Jud. 14:6). In each of these cases, the individual engaged in one or more miracles of prophesy or divinely empowered violence. In Exodus, a man named Bezalel is filled with the Spirit in order to craft the tabernacle and its furnishings (Ex. 31:2-3). Micah is also filled with the Spirit in order to declare Israel’s sin (Mic. 3:8), a typical task for OT prophets. I think these three words are interchangeable in the Old Testament, describing the Spirit acting with and through a human being to accomplish a miraculous purpose and usually to prophesy.

The New Testament uses all three words in Acts 2:2-4, when a sound like rushing wind fills the room, tongues of fire rest on the believers’ heads, and the Spirit fills them. It also says that the Spirit rests on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism (Matt. 3:16) and that those who are mistreated for the name of Jesus have the Spirit resting on them (1 Pet. 4:14). The NT more often refers to the Spirit filling a believer. This happens to John the Baptist and both his parents (Luke 1:15, 41, 67), the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:4), Saul/Paul (9:17), Paul and Barnabas (13:50-14:1), and is commanded of believers in Ephesians 5:18. In every one of these cases, those who are filled with the Spirit speak the words of God afterward, whether through prophesy, tongues, proclaiming the Gospel, or singing.

To sum up! When we ask God’s Spirit to rest on us or fill us, we are not just asking for a feeling or experience. We are offering ourselves up as vessels so that God can speak and act through us. Being filled with God’s Spirit means I am committed to speaking God’s words.

VERSE 1
“As the Spirit was moving over the waters // Spirit, come move over us”
When did the Spirit move over the waters, and do we want Him to move over us in a similar fashion? This is a reference to Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the waters. These waters are the unformed chaos of the pre-creation world, and God is about to fill them with light and then create the whole world out of this inhospitable blank slate. This is actually my favorite line in the song, though I suspect many listeners miss it. I think this line is a way of submitting to the transformative and creative power of God’s Spirit, offering our chaos and our unformed lives up to God as a canvas for Him to create something beautiful that suits his purpose and his pleasure.

CHORUS
“You’re here and I know You are moving // I’m here and I know You will fill me”
Asking the Holy Spirit to come down is perhaps unnecessary, but not harmful. Yes, the Spirit is already here; God is omnipresent (Jer. 23:24, Col. 1:17). In asking for the Spirit to come down, we are asking for his presence to be made evident in some way, not saying that he isn’t already present. This also applies to the later line “when you fill the room.” It’s referring to the visible or felt activity of the Spirit, not his actual presence versus his absence.

The next line, which says the Spirit will “make my heart pound” when he moves, is not my favorite. It could mean that the singer gets excited (heart pounding) when he or she sees evidence of the Spirit’s activity. That’s fine and good. I’m concerned that most people will take a simpler and less helpful approach to this line. Either A) If the Spirit is moving in your life, he will cause a palpable physical response. If your heart isn’t pounding, the Spirit isn’t moving. or B) “You make my heart pound” sounds like very romantic language, so we think our relationship with the Spirit is like a romantic relationship. “Jesus is my boyfriend songs” are problematic not just because they make worshipers uncomfortable, but because the individual Christian is not the Bride of Christ; the Church is (Eph. 5:31-32, Rev. 19:7-8).

This song refers continually to the Spirit moving. This isn’t a phrase that I can find in Scripture anywhere, but I don’t think it’s inherently problematic. Movement is activity. So if you believe the Spirit does anything today—from raising the dead to quietly prompting the heart of the believer—then you believe the Spirit moves. However, it’s very nonspecific. So each individual who hears or sings this song will import their understanding of what constitutes a movement of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to fill us? See the above note on the song title.

VERSE 2:

This verse specifically references Pentecost, when there was a rushing sound of wind and tongues of fire rested on the believers (Acts 2:1-4). What’s not clear is which aspect of Pentecost the singer is asking the Holy Spirit to duplicate. If it’s the literal fire, wind, and tongues-speaking, I think this line is misguided. If it’s the manifest presence and activity of God that lead to proclamation of the Gospel and a turning of many hearts toward Jesus because of the Spirit’s ministry through the church, then yes, let’s pray for that! (I recently reviewed “The Dove,” another Holy Spirit song, which references Pentecost differently, and I think more helpfully!)

The gates come from Psalm 24:7, where they are opened to welcome in the King of Glory. This song refers to letting heaven in instead of God, but I think it’s clear from the context that this is a way of welcoming God’s presence so that he can make our world more and more like heaven, establishing his Kingdom in and through us.

BRIDGE:

“You’re all we want,” is a frequent refrain in worship songs. It’s not a statement of fact (we all want lots of things besides God). It’s an aspirational prayer. In singing “You’re all we want,” we are training our hearts to long for God like the deer longs for water in Psalm 42:1.

Accessibility

Clarity and context are big problems for this song. The Spirit’s activity is described through different biblical word-pictures, and an emotional response is articulated in modern language. What’s missing is any concrete explanation of what the Spirit is doing or what exactly we are asking him to do. This deprives the song of meaning for those who don’t know what the Spirit is doing in the referenced passages. And it leaves open a big hole into which anyone could insert their own poor understanding of what the Spirit’s ministry looks like.

As indicated above, I am concerned that the repeated line “when you move you make my heart pound” is likely to be interpreted in harmful ways. I have the same concern for the line “fire and wind, come and do it again.”

Music

This song has a powerful, slow-build, dynamic arc. I love the drums and the chord progression. The lyrics and melody are so catchy that it would be hard not to learn this song after hearing it once. I honestly enjoy the song, which makes it difficult to be so critical of the lyrics.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Not for me. This song is supposed to be a powerful emotional response to and plea for the moving of God’s Spirit, but those emotions need to be grounded in scriptural truth, not left adrift to anchor themselves to each singer’s vague idea of what the Spirit does.

Image by Maxim Medvedev 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.