The other day at church, I was introduced to the band U2. I have heard both good and bad reviews of this band but from the pieces I’ve heard, they are a great rock group. One of the interesting things that I heard of is that U2 has a song that they do always at the end of their sets that is based on a psalm in the Bible. Are they are bible-believing Christians? We’ve learned through church study that the Psalms are songs that David the king used to communicate to God and for God to communicate back to him. Their song “40” was such a song, named and paraphrased after Psalm 40 in which King David said, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He heard my cry, He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet upon the rock, and gave me a firm place to stand, he put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” From this, they put these lyrics up: “I waited patiently for the Lord; He heard my cry, He lifted me out of the slimy pit, I will sing, sing a new song, O Lord, sing a new song, how long, how long, sing a new song… It goes onto talk about feet being set on a rock of hard ground and that many will fear the Lord. It is such a humble song that needs to be played more often. We need messages like this today in the world. There is too much unspoken.
There will be many who say that this band is of the devil and they don’t have any good in the world, but I believe they are doing plenty of Good, at least with “40.” The fact that any artist is seeking to incorporate the Psalms into their work is doing God’s work. The people who slander this work come from the same camp of people who say using music for God’s commission is wrong. Well, what if music is the gift that these people have been given by the Lord to use for God’s service? The bible preaches everything in moderation— “All things are possible, but not all things are permissible for me…” It is dependent on what causes you to sin. This is where the personal relationship with Jesus Christ comes in.
Anyway, the song “40” serves as a great closer to many of U2’s concerts, it is one of the pockets in their repertoire that really shines as an example of the kind of music we could have today. God made musicians and other people alike with varying personalities that range from serving the Lord with classical music to rock music to jazz and folk music. In all of these cases, it’s the message of the songs that count and this one’s a keeper.
