Photo by averie woodard
Duo worship band All Son’s and Daughters began their music career in 2009 and signed with Integrity in 2010. Releasing three EP’s: Brokenness Aside, Prone To Wander: A Collection of Hymns and Reason To Sing, they released their first full-lengh album Season One in 2012. They also released Live (2013), All Sons & Daughters (2014), and Grammy-nominated Poets & Saints (2016), which peaked at #4 in the Billboard’s top Christian and Folk albums.
After a hiatus in 2017, they announced their breakup in 2018.
This requested review is for their 2014 hit Great Are You Lord.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/All-sons-and-daughters-great-are-you-lord-lyrics.
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?
There is plenty to rave about this song. It describes God’s actions to which we as Christians collectively respond in worship. These actions include:
- Giver of life
- Epitomy of love
- Drives out darkness
- Gives hope
- Restores broken relationship with Himself
- Sent Holy Spirit to live inside us
It is not just us, but all of creation worships God.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All lines of this songs are in agreement with God’s Word.
NOTE: The Genius link provided does not contain a “Bridge” section; However, it occurs after the second repeat of the Chorus.
[Verse 1]
Line 1a: He is the author of life (Genesis 1:12, Genesis 1:21, Genesis 1:24-25, Genesis 1:31, Genesis 02:07, Genesis 09:09, Genesis 09:10, Ruth 4:13, 1 Samuel 02:21, Job 1:21, Job 33:04, Psalm 016:11, Psalm 071:06, Proverbs 22:02, Jeremiah 23:24, and John 10:10).
Line 1b: As quoted in 1 John 4:8.
Line 2: Light conquers darkness (Psalm 107:10-16, Luke 1:79, John 1:1-13, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, and 1 Peter 2:9).
Line 3a: Examples of this include Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 33:20, Psalm 39:7, Psalm 62:5, Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 5:1-8, Romans 8:24-39, Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, and 1 Peter 1:3-6.
Line 3b and 4: Though our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) on a crash course toward eternal separation (Romans 6:23), Christ came to rescue us from that fate (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, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).
While I initially criticised this song for its “every” statement, it also says in Matthew 2:3 that all Jerusalem was troubled with Herod. “Every” doesn’t always mean “every” and “all” doesn’t always mean “all”.
Line 5: Amen!
[Chorus]
Line 1: That is, the Holy Spirit lives inside our hearts (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14). Also, God breathed into Adam, who became a living soul (Genesis 2:7), giving further credence to Verse 1, line 1a.
Line 2 and 3: To whom do we praise? At this point, it seems obvious that God is the recipient. Line 5 makes this abundantly clear.
Praise and worship is an appropriate response to God’s wonderous, life-giving works in our lives.
Line 4: Repeats line 1.
Line 5: Repeats line 2, adding a qualifier to indicate God as the sole recipient of such adoration, worthy of our affection (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).
[Bridge]
Lines 1-3: That is, all creation will praise God (Psalm 19:1-4, Psalm 66:4, Psalm 148:1-12, Psalm 150:6, Isaiah 55:12, Luke 19:40, and Revelation 5:13).
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Anyone who is not a Christian should easily understand this as God worship due to His works. The only potential confusion I could see is the figurative reference to the Holy Spirit in the Chorus. Many will likely interpret it as an invitation to receive God. This has a Gospel element to it.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies, praises, and shows adoration for God.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
All Son’s and Daughters’ Great Are You Lord is a good worship song. It is Biblically sound, easy for unbelievers to understand, and presents a wonderful message of God’s goodness towards us, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers may not understand the “breath in lungs” reference.
Consider adding this to your worship set.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Great Are You Lord (listen to the song)
Artist: All Son’s and Daughters
Album: All Son’s and Daughters
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2014
Duration: 4:56
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
11/21/2022 – Updated commentary on “every” to be consistent with other reviews. This raised its score from 8/10 to 9.5/10. Thanks to clicky (in his comment on Living Hope) for finding it!
03/17/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. Although I slightly raised the score in section 1 and removed my commentary on repetition, this did not affect the overall score.
08/09/2020 – Yona reminded me of my criticism of Sinach’s Way Maker in their use of the word “every” that I missed on this review. I corrected it, lowing this song’s score from 9/10 to 8/10.
Comments
Carla M Foss
If you have an eternal mindset, Jesus does restore every heart that is broken. The Hope we have in Christ is an eternity in the presence of the Father with no more sorrow or pain. Of course, we’ll have struggle here in our flesh in a broken world. But, He gives us strength for today and the fruit of the Spirit in the meanwhile.
I appreciate the comments about this song, because I do like to clarify or give context about ‘questionable’ lyrics.
Thanks for your inciteful reviews!
MDV
I may be the only one who instantly thought of the valley of dry bones, but it seems pretty obvious to me……
“It’s Your breath, in our lungs” “our hearts will cry these bones will sing great are you LORD”
Ezekiel 37: 4 – 6
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Michael Ramsey
I think the “You restore every heart that is broken” means more you CAN restore every heart that is broken. Or are reference to Matthew 11:28 maybe?
Yona
I would like tp begin by saying thank you so much for The Berean Test. It’s an invaluable resource. I use it often to Bible check my worship and I’ve discovered many wonderful new songs of worship on here as well. Thank you!
As with the Soch above I wanted to highlight the use of the word EVERY in the 4th line of the verse. I agreed with your assessment for Way Maker, that without proper context, absolute statements like this can mislead one into universalist thinking. I wonder if you would consider adding that caveat here too for consistency and also for anyone who might read this review but not the Way Maker review.
Many thanks and God bless.
Vince Wright
Yona,
Your words humble me, thank you! Also, thank you for catching my inconsistency on the word “every”.
I updated my review.
-Vince Wright
Yona
Thank you for such a kind response.
I truly appreciate that you bring the heart AND mind of Christ to your reviews. God’s grace as you keep doing His work.
Vince Wright
Yona,
That’s twice you humbled me. I’m grateful for your compliments!
-Vince Wright
Chris Quinn
I think because of the qualifier with “every” being “heart that is broken”, I see Psalm 51:17 “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Because they qualify it that way, to me that’s biblical.
When one looks at Way Maker, I’m in complete agreement that there is no qualifier and it gives off a universalistic impression, but because of the qualifier in “Great are You, Lord” about a heart that is broken, I see this as a different case.
However, should they have made their idea of “broken” more clear? Probably, but I think based on context, my consistent understanding of the song has connected that line to Psalm 51:17 and the restoration to fellowship with God one experiences through coming to Him with a broken heart.
Soch
Interestingly, I came here to see your opinion/review on verse 1 while this song’s verse 1 was playing in my background at the same time I was reading Google’s doodle for today on Marsha P Johnson’s life and death. As I read Johnson’s google doodle’s linked Wikipedia, it was sad and apparent to me that Johnson was a very hurt and broken person, perhaps searching in all the wrong places, and all I could think in that moment was this verse was a lie! Stating: “You restore ‘every’ heart that is broken”.
Really?!? An “absolutist term” similar to the one contained in Sinach’s song – Way Maker “as if there are zero counter-examples”. Johnson’s seemingly broken heart/brokenness does not appear to have been restored. And I can’t help but wonder if in well meaning attempts to create songs of praise & worship, if some of these lyrics aren’t actually deterring some from Jesus
Vince Wright
Soch,
Thank you for your comments!’
In short, yes, it deters some people from Jesus.
I wondered the same thing until recently, where I found myself in conversation with a young woman who left Christianity because of promises like this. She lost a child, praying and hoping that God would heal her unborn child. He did not. She realizes now that she left for the wrong reasons and informed me that she is now a Christian. I praise Jesus that she found Christ despite these empty promises.
This is why I recommend a disclaimer, something to the effect of “even if you do not heal us, we will praise you” because sometimes God doesn’t heal us physically.
-Vince Wright
Wyatt Erickson
First, I love what you are doing. Worship leaders need to think about the meaning of the songs they are singing and the theology they are imparting to their congregation. So, well done.
This “every” lyric is an interesting case. I think there is some question about what the meaning of the word broken is. If the context is only someone who is suffering then your argument stands.
However, if the writers intention is more that of a person who is broken before God, aware of their brokenness and yearning for restoration, then I think it requires a little more nuance. After all Jesus first self proclamation of Messiah came in the form of claiming an old testament prophecy for himself that he would “…bind up the brokenhearted”, not bind up some of the brokenhearted. While I understand that the absence of the some caveat does not mandate the every inclusion, I think the point still stands. Later, Jesus calls come to me, “all” who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Jesus offers hope and the potential for restoration to every broken soul, that is what the cross did, that does not mean everyone responds correctly to it.
I don’t think we can fairly force an interpretation the first verse of this song as trying to promise that God will avert trouble for every person regardless of their attitude toward God. It can just as easily be speaking to what God can do and what we gain access to through Jesus.
This is arguably the most difficult part of analyzing lyrics. The trick is somehow gracefully communicating the things that might be a problem, but also might not, depending on the intent of the writer and the perception of the listener and congregation.
I think in many cases if your church is clearly articulating the truth, lyrics like this one would fall on a congregation that would correctly understand it in the context of orthodoxy. If, however, the church is preaching that God primarily exists to serve people, this lyric would likely reinforce that false belief.
Good luck navigating this difficult terrain. I don’t envy you. I do applaud your willingness to engage in the comments and use them to grow and improve as a writer and communicator. Again great job.