I love music—most all music except for opera and classical. I like music with a strong beat and rhythm. I listen to music all the time—on my iPhone, when I drive, when I have my brisk walks and when I’m in the house. A number of years ago my walk with God experienced a “soul lift” through vibrant and meaningful Christian worship songs. My relationship with Him has never been the same since.
When listening to the words in Christian songs I pay close attention to how the lyrics match up with Scripture as I believe there are songs out there that nice sounding, but have lyrics which are not biblically sound. I want to encourage all of us to think more about what we are singing instead of mindlessly moving through the song. Our minds matter. I want to talk about two songs today. In my humble opinion (and as I often tell my wife Susan, those are the only kinds of opinions I have—humble ones) one has it right the other has it wrong.
The first song (many, if not most of us, know it and worship to it) has a line that says, “You’re never gonna let me DOWN.”
The other song (not as familiar) from back in the mid 60’s says, You’re never gonna let me GO.”
- The first one is simply not true
- The second one is absolutely, without-a-doubt true.
Allow me to explain my rationale.
1. He’s never gonna let me DOWN!
God will let me down if what I desire, am thinking about or praying about is out of line with His will for me. I can pray about something and selfishly ask him to come through for me, and for sure he will say no and let me down.
If I were in a roomful of people and simply asked, “Do you honestly feel in your heart of hearts that God, at some point, didn’t come through for you, didn’t answer your prayer they way you wanted Him to?” I’m confident many hands would go up. God does, and will, let us down. Sometimes His answer is yes, sometimes, wait and sometimes a resounding NO. I have met Christians who are angry with God and bitter toward him because they feel He “let them down.”
2. He’s never gonna let me GO!
This truth is solid gold. Just read through Romans 8.
Several weeks ago I memorized Isaiah 42:16 in The Message, which has been of immense help in understanding that He’s sticking with me come what may.
“But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,
who can’t see where they’re going.
I’ll be a personal guide to them,
directing them through unknown country.
I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,
make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.
These are the things I’ll be doing for them—
sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”
I might (for a season) wander away for any number of reasons, but he will never turn loose of me. He’s always there to graciously welcome me back. Theologically, we refer to this as, “Eternal Security.” See John 10:28, 29.
So here’s the bottom line in all of this:
It’s a good thing that God lets us down from time to time for our own protection and spiritual growth.
It’s a glorious thing that God has promised to never let us go.
When God seems far away guess who moved?
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