What’s in a worship song? or two?

What's in a worship song?  Well, it's a song.  So there's music, unless it's "a capella".  And it's worship, so there must be words.  After all, worship is about praising and honoring.  Words are kind of important when doing that.  More specifically, in a Christian worship song, it's about praising God.  The God we believe created - everything.  The songs should reflect that.  What else should be in Christian worship songs?  Love.  And Truth.

These things probably seem like no-brainers.  Of course, they should all be there.  But when we sing or listen to them, do we really think about what's in the worship song that we're directing to God?  Do we just blindly sing the words, whatever they might be?  Or do we meditate on them as we're singing?  In essence, are we praying those words?

Asking about praying leads to one more question.  Are the words, both actual words and the intent of those words, biblical?  If they aren't, then two issues immediately come to mind.

What should be in a worship song?

First, are they true?  If there's nothing biblical in the words, as Christians, we should question why those lyrics were chosen.  Remember the part about truth?  If the Bible is the source of truth about God, and the words or even the intent of them isn't reflected in the Bible, then where do they come from?  What are they saying?  Are they even appropriate to be directed to the God we're supposed to be worshiping?

Second, are the words even about God?  I mean God as He describes Himself.  The God that we claim to believe in.  Or are they about a god that we've created?  A god that we'd like to substitute for the God in the Bible?  If that's the case, then we're not worshiping God when we sing them.  If we're not careful, we can easily end up reshaping the God we used to love to the point where we start to love and worship the god of the song(s) - rather than the God of the Bible.

Maybe it's accidental.  Maybe it's intentional.  Who knows what the author of the song was thinking?  We don't - unless we check it out.  As we can see, it's important to know.  Honestly, we're offering these songs up to God as a form of praise.  Shouldn't we take the time and effort to know what we're telling Him?  Or if, at the very least, we're really even singing about Him?

What's really in a worship song?

We're going to look at some words from two different worship songs.  Not the whole song.  Just a few lines.  We'll look at them with the above items in mind.  See if, when we sing them, are we really worshiping God?  Of course, different people will view songs differently.  I'm giving my point of view about these lines as a way to show you how to pray over the songs you might be singing.

What's in a worship song - a fire that I can't control

Here's the segment we're going to look at:

Set a fire down in my soul That I can't contain, I can't control

Maybe Set a fire down in my soul is supposed to be about the Holy Spirit.  I couldn't find anything on what this song is really about, so the best I can do is assume that to be the case.  In the New Testament, fire is used in four different ways.

Once, God is referred to as a consuming fire.

Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

That doesn't seem likely for a worship song - wanting a consuming fire in our souls.  As we'll see - a fire from the Holy Spirit is one thing, but a consuming fire appears to give a very different picture.

From time to time, fire is exactly what we normally think of - fire.  Such as for cooking food over a fire.

Obviously, that kind of fire makes zero sense.

The other two are summed up in something John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mt 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So fire could refer to the unquenchable fire of Hell.  That makes no sense at all for a worship song.