Bad Worship songs: Spirit Lead Me - Influence Music & Michael Ketterer

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a good worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned? We think an excellent worship song should contain as many as possible of the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Scripture quotes or allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness

Further, a worship song should not:

1. contain lyrics that create uncertainty or cause confusion
2. be excessively metaphorical
3. be excessively repetitive
4. imply that Jesus is your boyfriend 

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with today's song, "Spirit Lead Me." (Youtube video.) It is a well-crafted song, but it has problems.

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Lyrics:

This is my worship, This is my offering
In every moment, I withhold nothing
I'm learning to trust You, Even when I can't see it
And even in suffering, I have to believe it

If You say "it's wrong", then I'll say "no"
If You say "release", I'm letting go
If You're in it with me, I'll begin
And when You say to jump, I'm diving in
If You say "be still", then I will wait
If You say to trust, I will obey
I don't wanna follow my own ways
I'm done chasing feelings
Spirit lead me

It felt like a burden, But once I could grasp it
You took me further, Further than I was asking
And simply to see You, It's worth it all
My life is an altar, Let Your fire fall

When all hope is gone
And Your word is all I've got
I have to believe
You still bring water from the rocks
To satisfy my thirst
To love me at my worst
And even when I don't remember
You remind me of my worth

I don't trust my ways
I'm trading in my thoughts
I'd lay down everything
'Cause You're all that I want
I've landed on my knees
This is the cup You have for me
And even when it don't make sense
I'm gonna let Your Spirit lead

I'm gonna let Your Spirit lead (Spirit lead me)
I'm gonna let Your Spirit lead (Spirit lead me)
I'm gonna let Your Spirit lead (Spirit lead me)
***

The main issue with this song is the frequent use of I, me, and my. One of these words appear in nearly every stanza, more than 30 times in fact. This self-focus is certainly permissible in a limited sense, but we think that line has been crossed in this song. 

In actual fact, the song writer is singing about himself to the Holy Spirit. His message is how well he's going to do what he is told to do. He's going to be obedient and faithful. He's going to let the Holy Spirit lead. He's going to stay firm even when the situation seems desperate. Even when he's down on himself, the Holy Spirit reminds him of how valuable he is.

There is no statement about any characteristic of God. There is no statement of worship. We learn nothing about who God is, what He has done or is doing, or even why He should be trusted in the manner described by the song writer. 

Now certainly we know that God is all-powerful, faithful, righteous, holy, merciful, and loving. We go into this song knowing this. But those things are not in the song. Thus the songwriter is presumptuous, assuming we know what he's talking about. But without this information, we might not understand who he's singing to or why. In fact, if the word "Spirit" is deleted, the song could be sung to anyone.

One final note. The songwriter uses the word "further" (You took me further, Further than I was asking), which generally means "in addition to," when he probably should have used "farther." To some degree the words are interchangeable, or perhaps; sometimes they are just confused with each other. But in this case, the Spirit is taking him farther in his journey in a metaphorical sense, He's not adding something additional.

Conclusion

This particular song may have spiritual value, in the sense that it might encourage people to be faithful and obedient to God. But it's more a personal expression of intended devotion, and doesn't really belong in a congregational worship setting. Worship songs express worship. By definition. Congregational singing draws the Body together singing the glories of God.