Back in 2017, when I found myself neck deep in a Habakkuk3 season, the MercyMe song EVEN IF became like a hope-filled anthem to me. The lyrics are vulnerably honest and it starts off by stating how easy it is to preach and sing about faith to the broken-hearted during times when the preacher/artist’s life is uncomplicated and challenge-free. What follows thereafter are declarations of God’s sovereign power and His authority to utilise it at His discretion. With reverence and awe, the songwriter praises God for His faithfulness and he commits to following Jesus whole-heartedly for the rest of his life. He further declares that Jesus is his only Hope irrespective of whether He uses His almighty power to rescue him (the songwriter) from sorrow and hurt. The song ends with a last declaration “it is well with my soul”.

I believe that Horatio Spafford’s 1873 hymn IT IS WELL (WITH MY SOUL) is a timeless treasure because of the lyrics which reflect the complete, authentic surrender to God by a grateful and humble songwriter. It has recently come to my attention that a musician from a popular TV church revamped Spafford’s hymn and this new rendition so vividly captures a matter which has been weighing heavily on my heart for a long time.

Although the modern musician does not technically veer off the path of Biblical truth, she most certainly does not share the MercyMe songwriter or Spafford’s willingness to confess to her own sorrow, helplessness or even sinfulness. Rather than reflecting vulnerability by considering her own possible sorrow which can be “rolling in and crashing like ocean breakers”, she chooses to call on the “shaking, stirring” power of God which can “calm and brake the ocean” for her own personal regard. Rather than facing her own possible helplessness, she chooses to, again, call on the power of God to “move mountains and calm storms”, because the “wind and waves know His name”. Rather than facing her own sinfulness, she chooses to end off the rendition with a repetition of a declaration of faith in what I consider to be a cyclic chant – suggesting that the more times the same words are chanted, the more believable they become.

There is a traditional Jewish song, believed to be over 1,000 years old, which is sung during the Passover Seder and it means “it would have been enough”. It is called DAYENU, pronounced dye-YEH-noo, and is a joyful expression of gratitude to God for all His miracles during the Exodus journey which started in Egypt. The song lists multiple divine acts emphasizing that any one of them would have been sufficient.

For the purpose of this reflection, I choose to pin the following definitions:

Wielding is the act of holding, using and/or an attempt at manipulating power with skill and control for a specific purpose.

Yielding is the act of giving up control and submitting to a superior power.

Horatio Spafford, the MercyMe songwriter and the traditional Jews understood the principle of YIELDING to God’s sovereign power. The modern musician from the TV church skilfully deflects from personal vulnerability and surrender, because her church subscribes to a dangerous theology of believing that WIELDING God’s sovereign power is even possible.

I choose to YIELD to God’s sovereign power and follow Jesus whole-heartedly, because He and whatever He chooses to do or not, is enough for me.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.”

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬