Perhaps I look at everything a little too critical, some would say a lot too critical, but I take issue with some so called "praise and worship" songs. I guess I am a bit of a dichotomy, being that I am a relatively new Christian, yet I prefer songs from the standard ole Hymnal. The past two Sundays we have sang a song in church that I basically refuse to even mouth the words to even pretend to sing it. Here is the song I am talking about in particular:
"Made Me Glad" 2001 Hillsong Publishing
I will bless the Lord forever
I will trust Him at all times
He has delivered me from all fear
He has set my feet upon a rock
I will not be moved
And I'll say of the Lord
You are my shield
My strength, my portion
Deliverer, my shelter, strong tower
My very present help in time of need
So that is all the lyrics we sang, well technically they sang. Now what problems do I have with that? Let me take it line by line to break it down.
Second line, I have no problems with in it's self, we should trust Him all the time. Good so far!
Third line, I am with it up until the last word in the line. Delivered me from all fear? Doesn't this cut God short? To me this is robbing Him of the glory He is due. We are delivered from far more than fear. Is fear greater than an eternity of suffering in a lake of fire "where ‘ Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:44 ? I think not.
Fourth line, is acceptable but is lacking in detail. Those who are saved have been set upon a rock, but just any ole rock? No, we are anchored in Christ. Just the added detail would have been more glorifying to Him.
Fifth line, I will not be moved? We would like to think so, but we must not forget our roots. Psalm 103:14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. or 1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. We can not rest. We must be on guard, and on watch for sin.
The next five lines I will lump together as it is like one long sentence. "And I'll say of the Lord":
You are my shield. OK, that is true. But again He is so much more. This makes Him sound so small in comparison to His actual glory. Same with strength. Now "my portion". Dictionary.com defines portion as follows - 5. Literary. something that is allotted to a person by God or fate. So we are allotted God by God? As in we can possess Him?? I am not sure what the writer intended this line to mean. Deliverer, finally! Yes He is! Then right back down with "my shelter". I guess in a way this is right, but again robbing God of the glory due unto Him, displaying a small version of God. Now comes "strong tower", I am at a loss here. I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean either. "My very present help in time of need". Where to begin with this one? "My", as to imply possession again? I think not. "Very present", right on! , until they drag it down with " in time of need". Wrong. One word, Omnipresent. And the the line I obviously skipped, the first. I take extra exception with this one. "I will bless the Lord forever" ? How can we, being totally unworthy of even His grace, bless Him, the Almighty Creator, with anything for even one second? God blesses us. He does not need us for anything. He created us. He is all powerful. Purely Holy. We are nothing but sinful dust created by Him, in His image. We couldn't even manage that. One rule we were given and we broke that. So that wraps up all the lines. In conclusion, this song presents a small picture of God, does not pay Him the glory and praise He is due, and implies some things that border on blasphemous in my opinion. Where is Jesus in this song? He is what Christianity is built on, yet He is not mention once in this song. All in all I think we should look more carefully at what we call "praise and worship" music.
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7 comments:
Hey man, just gonna hit u wit some Scriptures: Strong tower thing-Proverbs 18:10 (King James verstion)
10The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Also Ps. 61:3.
On the blessing the Lord part:
Psalm 103
1Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
So just wanted to show you that just to let you know that that stuff is built on Scripture.
Also there is a hymn about blessing the Lord.
i like how you are very critical, and and that you dont accept stuff just cuz it has "christian" labeled on it.
I wouldn't have a problem with it had they left out the "I". Bless the LORD has a completely different ring than I bless the Lord. The scripture comes across more like Blessed is the LORD, rather than implying we bless Him. And so far as being critical, I'm not complaining. It is sometimes hard for those around me to deal with. But I don't doubt God's plan. He made me this way for some purpose. Maybe someday I will know what that purpose is, but for now I am happy to exercise it in this way.
For sure man!! keep it up! i enjoy reading your thoughts!
Just found this, Psalm 145:1-2
Good find. Point to you! But I would counter with he did follow it up with "praise Your name forever and ever". The song was sadly missing praise.Like I was telling Mom this afternoon, I wouldn't have been so critical of this song had it not been part of our church service. I just don't think it was glorifying enough for the regular service. Just my opinions though.
yeh man, i definetley see where your heart is, just wanting to give God the glory He is sooo worthy of.
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