Aaron Shust – My Savior My God

American Contemporary Christian artist Aaron Shust began his career in 2005.  He released nine albums, including:

• Anything Worth Saying (2005)
• Whispered and Shouted (2007)
• Take Over (2009)
• This Is What We Believe (2011)
• Morning Rises (2013)
• Unto Us (2014)
• Doxology (2015)
• Love Made a Way (2017)
• Nothing to Fear (2019)

He won three GMA Dove awards in 2007, including New Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Song of the Year (My Savior My God).

Also, check out my review of Give Me Words to Speak.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Shust recognizes his ineptness, limited knowledge, and desperation for Jesus’ salvation.  Consistent in word, thought, and deed, Christ left heaven to pay for Shust’s lawbreaking, showing the world how much He loves.  Jesus is alive today, seated at the Father’s right hand.  The eternal Son of God lends Shust His power while at the same time rules over him.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

The lyrics are Biblical.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed what God has planned

This borrows from the second half of 1 Corinthians 2:11. The word “fully” is implied in this statement, as Shust can only understand in part while he remains in his mortal body (1 Corinthians 13:12).

I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior

That is, Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father (Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:33, Acts 7:55-56, Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 10:12, Hebrews 12:2, 1 Peter 3:22, and Revelation 3:21) and is Shust’s Savior (Isaiah 45:21-22, Hosea 13:4, Luke 1:47, Luke 2:11, Acts 13:23, 1 Timothy 2:3, Titus 2:13-14, and 1 John 4:14).

[Verse 2]

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read

Shust recognizes that Christ puts His words into action, by dying for his salvation (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15-26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).  These are read, of course, from the Bible.

And in my heart I find the need
Of Him to be my Savior

Shust recognizes his depravity (Proverbs 21:16, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-2, Colossians 2:13, and 1 Timothy 5:6).

[Pre-Chorus]

That He would leave His place on high

That is, His throne (Philippians 2:6-7).

And come for sinful man to die

See Scripture on Verse 2, lines 1 and 2.

You called it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

Shust is having a conversation with someone, admitting that he was once an unbeliever who thought that such things were “strange” until he started to know Jesus intimately.

[Chorus]

My Savior loves, my Savior lives

His love is shown through His death on the cross (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).  He is also alive (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

My Savior’s always there for me

Though on His timing not Shust’s (2 Peter 3:9).

My God He was, my God He is
My God He’s always gonna be

Jesus lives forever (John 8:58, Colossians 1:13-17, and Hebrews 13:8).

My Savior loves, my Savior lives
My Savior’s always there for me
My God He was, my God He is
My God He’s always gonna be

Repeats lines 1-4.

[Verse 3]

Yes living, dying let me bring
My strength my Solace from the Spring

Shust’s strength comes from the Son of God (Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 22:19, Psalm 28:7-8, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 118:14, Psalm 119:28, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 33:2, Isaiah 40:29-31, Habakkuk 3:19, Matthew 11:28-30, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 6:10, and Philippians 4:13).  The “spring” is living water (Jeremiah 17:13, Zechariah 14:8-9, John 4:7-26, John 7:37-39, Acts 2:1-13, Revelation 6:9-11, Revelation 7:13-17, Revelation 21:6-7, and Revelation 22:1-5).

That He who lives to be my King

Christ is King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, Luke 1:32-33, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16).

Once died to be my Savior

Once and for all (Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:26-28, and Hebrews 10:10-14).

[Outro]

My Savior lives, my Savior loves
My Savior lives, my Savior loves
My Savior lives

Essentially repeats Chorus, line 1.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Verse 2 explicitly states that Christ died to save Shust, making it abundantly clear to unbelievers that this is a Christian song.  Despite this song’s heavy reliance on Christianese, these are all things that those who are not yet Christian have heard before 1,000 times over.

The only thing that they would likely misunderstand is a “sinful man”.  For many unbelievers, sin is mere mistakes, not lawbreaking.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Jesus as Shust’s ruling Savior.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Aaron Shust’s My Savior My God is catchy.  It covers all the usual stuff you’d typically hear in a worship song: Jesus as Savior, the cross, Christ as alive, His power in His people, and that we need Him.  These bring Him glory.  Aside from the phrase “sinful man”, unbelievers should easily conclude similarly.

I’m having a tough time recommending this for corporate worship.  On the one hand, there are plenty of elements where the song proclaims to Jesus His value and worth.  Yet, for all the praise and glory given to Christ, there’s that one part in Pre-Chorus where “you” called it strange as “I” did.  This contextualizes the entire song as a conversation between Shust and whoever they are talking with.  That doesn’t sound like “worship” music to me.  Still, I’d gladly worship my Savior if I happened to attend a service with this song playing.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: My Savior My God (listen to the song)

Artist: Aaron Shust

Album: Anything Worth Saying

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2005

Duration: 4:53

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*Copyright © 2005 Bridge Building Music (BMI) White Spot Publishing (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.