Back in 2001, maybe 2001, the band Stereomud was on heavy radio rotation in Nashville with their song, “Pain.” I saw them play at the now closed rock club, 328, in downtown Music City. They played with Saliva, Lifer, and Systematic. Most of these bands and others coming out of the nu-metal, rap-rock genre didn’t go further than the small rock club scene, but I got a couple CDs from each of these bands. Yesterday on my full library shuffle, I was taken back to early 2000 when Stereomud’s “Show Me” entered the cycle.
Check out a sampling of the lyrics to this song:
Please don’t forget me I’m out here trying to find you…
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think that it’s hopeless
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think I’m lostEverytime I left It was so far away
No I never thought that it would be like this
Wish I could thank you for the patience that you gave me
It’s all I, I can do so don’t give up on me
Hope you know it’s your faith that’s guiding mePlease don’t forget me I’m out here trying to find you…
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think that it’s hopeless
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think I’m lostPlease don’t forget me
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think that it’s hopeless
Show me some kind of light I can barely see it
Don’t want to think I’m lost
I’m curious who do you think he is singing about? Does the style of the music, the tone of singer, or the content of the lyrics fit a crying out for an ex-lover, distant parent, lost friend, or other human guidance, or does this seem more like a calling out for a divine hand, a divine light, a “word from above?”
It made me think of the lyrics of one of my favorite bands, Godsmack. Many of their songs cry out to someone or something “to make me believe,” “to forgive me,” “to shine down to give me a chance to feel you,” “to give me a reason to pray,” “that I still believe in immortal love and I know that there is someone who is up above,” and the need to “re-align,” “change,” “speak the truth,” with an entire song centered on the question, “What if?”
I firmly believe that God has revealed himself through what he has created, as Romans 1:20 states, that from “the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” In Christian doctrine this type of revelation is called Natural Knowledge or General Revelation. I think songs like the ones from bands like Stereomud and Godsmack ask the questions that they ask and have themes transcend the natural because God has put his fingerprints all over his creation, though all men don’t acknowledge, they know there is more, which is why we all seek and have a god in our life, rather it is a God made in the image of man or creation, humanism, fame, money, or the true God of the universe as he has revealed himself directly through the person of Jesus Christ.
This isn’t for everyone, because for some Christians listening to certain songs might lead them to sin, but I do think that the spiritual themes that arise from the artists and poets of our society are good starting points for “religious” talk, for discussing God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you can take in the words and products of non-Christians without being led away from Christ or into sin, then by all means, listen, observe, but always filter through discernment using God’s Word, and pray for opportunities to share the Gospel.
Check out Christianity Today’s movie review section on-line. They have great discussion questions at the end of all their reviews which can give some helpful examples of how we can engage secular culture and redeem it and point it towards Christ. This is exactly what Paul did as he mingled in the marketplace of Athens in Acts 17.
Let me know what you find? And if this proves helpful?
Andy Wrasman 