The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has been held annually since 1982. According to the contest’s website, this upside-down award goes to the author who pens the most “atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written. Our whimsical literary competition honors Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with ‘It was a dark and stormy night.'” Over the last two centuries, Bulwer-Lytton’s opening phrase has become the standard for lousy, cliched writing.
In 2023, the top prize for awful writing went to Maya Pasic of New York for the following effort: “She was a beautiful woman; more specifically she was the kind of beautiful woman who had an hourlong skincare routine that made her look either ethereal or like a glazed donut, depending on how attracted to her you were.” Well deserved!
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was in no small part pushed into the limelight by cartoonist Charles Shultz. In his world-famous comic strip Peanuts, Shultz created the beloved character of Snoopy the dog. Perched atop his house, Snoopy often grandiosely imagines himself as a world-renowned author; yet his novels often dubiously begin “It was a dark and stormy night.”
It would not be too strong to say that the state of music in the evangelical world has reached the point of crisis. The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest recognizes the most melodramatic & hackneyed bits of writing. But if there was a musical version of this competition, the evangelical world would have a plethora of strong entrants.
It would not be so disturbing if worship tunes were lacking from a strictly musical perspective (although there are plenty of lousy songs in circulation). More concerning is the number of songs plagued by overly emotional, trite or downright hokey lyrics. Worst of all is the fact that much evangelical music has been infected by straightforwardly unbiblical theology.
Perhaps we should not be surprised. Many prominent evangelical artists have little or no theological training. They often have a limited grasp of the Bible. Precisely as artists, they tend to craft music saturated by emotion. But sadly, their work is often devoid of sound, rational theological reflection.
Moreover, purportedly Christian songwriters mirror our broader Western culture, where concepts of such as self-esteem and acceptance are thoroughly embraced. But any mention of God’s anger, judgment or condemnation of evil is very much out of vogue, despite the fact that these subjects are ubiquitous in scripture.
A comprehensive review of the Christian music world is well beyond the scope of this blog. I’d like to focus on just one song as representative of the kind of music making the rounds in evangelical churches: Jirah by Elevation Worship.
The opening lines are as follows: I’ll never be more loved than I am right now. Wasn’t holding you up, so there’s nothing I can do to let you down. It doesn’t take a trophy to make you proud. I’ll never be more loved than I am right now.
Jirah exhibits many of the worst qualities of worship lyrics. It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at the endless repetition, the melodrama, and the stale cliches. But the real problem is that Jirah promulgates theological ideas that are just plain wrong.
The Hebrew word Jirah comes from Genesis 22, which recounts how “God tested Abraham.” God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. The story is full of tension, for God had already promised that through Abraham’s descendants the creation would be rescued and restored. After long delay and turmoil, Isaac was finally born to Abraham and Sarah despite their advanced years. Now God’s perplexing demand to sacrifice Isaac threatened his own promises! Yet in faith and obedience, Abraham took his son and embarked upon the short journey to the mountain God commanded.
On the way, Isaac asked his father why they had no lamb for the burnt offering. Abraham responded, “God himself will provide the lamb.” Jirah is the Hebrew word often translated “provide.”
At the dramatic moment when Abraham lifted his hand to slay his own son, the Lord restrained him: ”Do not lay a hand on the boy…Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Instead of Isaac, God provided a ram, stuck in a nearby thicket, for the sacrifice. ”So Abraham called that place ‘The LORD will provide.”
The story concludes with God reaffirming his promises to Abraham. ”I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you…and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Much more could be said about this compelling narrative, not least the way it foreshadows the story of Jesus. (It also raises many thorny questions which we cannot now address.) For now, I just want to focus on Abraham’s response. The narrative begins by pointedly informing the reader that God’s instructions served as a test. Would Abraham be willing to offer up his cherished son, the one through whom God’s promises would find their fulfillment? Abraham passed the test by displaying complete loyalty to the Lord; his obedience is rewarded with blessing.
The song Jirah claims that there is nothing we can do to let God down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ironically, the very story from which we get the term Jirah powerfully illustrates that God sought a proper response from Abraham. The Lord’s favor and blessing directly hinged upon Abraham’s actions. It must be emphasized that this was no fait accompli; Abraham faced a very real and excruciating choice. The outcome could have been very different.
The larger tale of Abraham would reinforce the same lesson. We first encounter Abraham (then Abram) in Genesis 12, when the Lord commands, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Again, God’s blessing was a consequence of Abraham’s faithful response. He faced the difficult choice of leaving behind all that was familiar and plunging into the unknown, trusting in God’s word.
Revealingly, in Genesis 18, the Lord proclaims, “For I have chosen [Abraham] so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just.” Faced with the rebellion and wickedness of humanity, God chose Abraham and his descendants (the people of Israel) so that they might live in obedience to him, pursuing righteousness and justice.
The notion that we can’t let God down is utterly false. From Genesis to Revelation, the scriptures repeatedly affirm that God has clear expectations for human beings. From the beginning, God created humanity to serve as his regents, governing his creation according to his wisdom and goodness so that the world might flourish. As David wrote in the 8th Psalm, “You made [mankind] a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.”
The Bible provides many examples of how humans have in fact “let God down.” Adam and Eve let God down by eating the forbidden fruit; they rejected God’s wisdom and instead embraced their own notion of right & wrong. The generation of Noah most certainly let God down. They were absolutely full of wickedness, such that “every inclination of the thoughts of [their hearts] was only evil all the time.” The people of Israel let God down again and again. Until the coming of the Messiah, the story of Israel was one of failure, judgment and exile.
Even for the followers of Jesus, there is still the risk of letting God down. In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul warns, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Christians face tough choices every day. True, God is full of mercy. But we must remember that his forgiveness requires our repentance and renewed effort, in power of the Holy Spirit, to pursue righteousness.
Music is powerful stuff, for good or ill. It can be a powerful tool for training our minds in God’s truth. But lyrics such as those found in Jirah have the opposite effect; they promote a false understanding of God. The god of Jirah is a figment of the songwriter’s imagination, a sentimental figure who offers affirmation and blessing without expectations of any kind. It’s a god without wrath who doesn’t bother to confront the evil which afflicts our world. It’s a god who bears little resemblance to the God found in the Bible.
There is a reason it is called the Christian music INDUSTRY.