Is Your Gospel Playlist Building You Up or Distracting You?

While reading my Walk Through the Bible devotion, one of the days spoke about gospel songs that sound great but aren’t scripturally sound. Ever since I read it, I constantly found myself thinking about it whenever I listened to a song. In an attempt to make gospel songs more widespread and fun, there is always the possibility that there will be a rise in worldly gospel songs. Songs that don't align with exactly what the bible says, or when you watch the videos they come across as secular.

Two songs that sprung to mind while thinking of this are God Problems and Omemma, both very popular and fun songs; while writing this I also remembered Big God. As a young person, Omemma and Big God are the sort of boppy songs I craved for growing up. But ever since I read that devotional, I find myself constantly checking these songs. Are they feel-good songs or songs that will edify me spiritually?

When I first listened to God's Problems and heard the line, " There are just some problems only God can fix,” I thought to myself, how do you determine which problems are God's and which you should keep to yourself? My mind went to Matt. 11:28 (NKJV) “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It caused me to pause listening to the song. Why? The risk here is that when you start to distinguish between which problems you should handle and which should go to God, you provide an avenue for pride to creep in and before long, you start to act like you don’t need God. The Bible gives us examples of people who believed in their strength and the consequence of doing so (Pharoah, King Saul, Nebuchadnezzar). Instead of making such distinctions, God wants you to come to Him with everything because He cares for you (Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:5). I Pet. 5:7 (AMPC) says “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 

The other song is Omemma, a song that talks about how powerfully God moves and how He loves us so much that He’ll leave the 99 to look for us (Luke 15:1-7). If you want a party gospel playlist, this song will definitely get in there and have people dancing. But listen to the song! In one part of the song, Chandler Moore says “I'm 'bout to lose my mind up on this stage”, he then goes on to say “It's not girl math, it's God math”. When you hear these, I find it hard to be edified by the song. Not because I’m holier but because I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where God made anyone lose their mind for worshipping Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Jesus went around healing the sick and the insane (Mark 5:1-20). Girl math, according to Forbes, “is an invented set of “rules” that women supposedly keep to when justifying impulse spending”. How do you in a song to magnify God and edify His children equate that to His math (Gen. 2:24, Deut. 32:30)?

There are many other songs but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. As children of God, whatever we do should edify our spirits and draw us closer to God. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have fun gospel songs with great dance but we should be mindful of the song and check that it aligns with the word of God. The devil also knows the Bible and one of his tricks is to corrupt and twist it so he can lure people to his side. But we are not ignorant (II Cor. 2:11)! When we sing songs or incorporate dance steps, let’s ensure they are done in the right spirit. As we listen to these songs, I charge you to be like the Berean Christians who searched the word of God and study it for yourself (II Timothy 2:15, Acts 17:11).

P.S. YouVersion's VOTD for November 12, 2024, reminds us that God daily bears our burdens (Ps. 68:19, NIV). He wants all your problems!

Photo cred: Besharpened.com