Amy Grant – Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)

It’s that time of year again, where department stores attempt to part us with our money by pumping our tv’s, computers, and sidewalks with ads. This compels us to complete last-minute Christmas shopping, remindings us how many days until the inevitable holiday arrives. As another COVID year comes to a close, we can expect deliveries to be extremely late, perhaps missing that all-encompassing December 25th deadline. At least many of us will see Grandma Sally this year, provided that she survived the pandemic.

Amid the screams from last-minute wrapping, getting the kids in the car, and failing to find that one ingredient for traditional family sweets, we sometimes act more like Martha and less like Mary.  We focus too much on housekeeping and preparation while forgetting to sit at the feet of Jesus, reminded of the lonely manger filled with animals, hay, and a teenage betrothed virgin who birthed a baby boy.  While the world would have us think this holiday is about food, shopping, and presents, let us remember that God became one of us so that He could die in our place and rise again.

In honor of the birth of Jesus, I will be reviewing Christmas songs from now until December 22rd, starting with Amy Grant’s Breath of Heaven.

Amy Grant is an American artist who focused on Contemporary Christian Music before migrating towards pop music.

She released several works, including 15 studio albums, 5 Christmas albums, and 4 live albums.  She has won numerous awards and achievements, including Artist of the Year (GMA Dove), Best Female Gospel performance (Grammy), Christian Music Hall of Fame inductee (2007), and obtained a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2006).

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Amy-grant-breath-of-heaven-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?

This song is a mix of Biblical truth with poetic license from Amy Grant to humanize Mary. She includes details that are not found in Scripture, but reasonable when considering her position. These details include:

• Cold nights of travel without a moon
• General weariness
• Bewilderment of why God chose her
• Silent prayers
• Prayer that God would be with her
• Fear of raising Jesus alone
• Prayer that God would lighten her darkness

There are other portions that are found in Scripture, including:

• Mary traveled pregnant with Jesus
• God’s holiness
• Mary offers herself as a vessel to carry Christ

Other details that are questionable to unbiblical include:

• Prayer for immersion in God’s holiness
• Mary asked God if He made the right choice in choosing her to bear Jesus

Score: 8/10

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

Some of it is Biblical.  Other portions are poetic license that is not found in the Bible, but reasonable given Mary’s circumstances.  However, it’s not Biblical for Mary to have thought that God would wonder if He chose poorly.  It might also be unbiblical from her Old Testament perspective to ask for immersion in God’s holiness.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Describes Mary’s travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, described aptly in Luke 2:4-5. While this 70-mile trek could be traversed in mere hours today, it would have taken several days (if not more than a week) to travel that far. While the details of “cold”, “moonless”, and “weary” are not supported in Scripture, it’s equitable to think nighttime travel was cold and wore her out. I’ll give “moonless” a pass.

Line 3-5: Mary contemplates what she did to deserve carrying the Messiah in her womb, chosen by God for this task (Luke 1:26-38). Her questioning is not shown in Scripture, but any reasonable person in Mary’s position would probably do the same.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: Again, it seems fair that some of Mary’s prayers are silent and that this process frightened her.  What would her betrothed husband Joseph think?  Would he believe her?  These fears were realized when he sought to divorce her quietly (Matthew 1:19).  Thankfully she did not bear this burden alone, as God sent Joseph an angel in a dream to convince him (Matthew 1:20-24).

Line 3: The world is a cruel place, in part, because the hearts of mankind are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).

Lines 4 and 5: Thankfully no!  Joseph will be with her.  While there is no recorded prayer of Mary, to ask God to be present, once again, it’s not unreasonable to think she prayed this prayer.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-5: “Breath of heaven” is a title attributed to God specifically within this song.  It’s a slightly modified version of “Breath of God” that created the universe (Genesis 2:7, Psalm 33:6, Job 26:13, and Job 33:4).  Also, Jesus breathed on His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22) and Paul makes a statement that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).  Mary probably didn’t refer to God this way nor is this prayer recorded in Scripture; However, I’m OK with this title as poetic license.

I’ve conceded earlier that her praying for God’s Presence is appropriate.  Again, asking for God to lighten the load would be reasonable for any human being, much less one pregnant with Christ.  However, I’m not certain if Mary would have prayed for God’s holiness to wash over her, given her Old Testament perspective and how distant God generally was to individuals.  However, she is correct in stating that God is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, Luke 1:49, 1 Peter 1:15-16, and Revelation 4:8).

[Verse 3]

Lines 1 and 2: No, God doesn’t wonder this.  Moses in Exodus 4:10-31 questioned if God chose the right person for the job.  He was rebuked for asking.  Scripture doesn’t say Mary asked this question.

Lines 3 and 4: Describes Mary’s response to the angel who informed her that she would bear Jesus (Luke 1:38).

Line 5: She asks for God to strengthen her in her weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).  This is yet another fitting request not recorded in the Bible.

Score: 8/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The terms “babe”, “Holy Father”, and “Breath of Heaven” all point unbelievers towards a Christian worldview.  Reading the lyrics will cause any reasonable person to think it’s about Mary, seeing things from her perspective as someone carrying the Messiah to term.  Outsiders to Christianity might interpret holiness over Mary as the Holy Spirit conceiving Christ and God’s wondering as Mary’s contemplation.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

While it glorifies God that Grant intermixes Biblical truths with sensible artistic freedom, details concerning basking in God’s holiness from an Old Testament perspective and questioning God’s choices veil it.

Score: 8/10

Closing Comments

Amy Grant’s Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song) is decent. It treats Mary as a human being, adding details to her Biblical account that generally makes sense and brings glory to God. However, holiness over her and that she thought herself unfit for the task of raising Jesus, is not supported in Scripture. Unbelievers will generally interpret similarly, though with differing details on these aforementioned issues.

This song is an empathetic retrospective, not a worship song.  Thus, it is inappropriate for corporate worship.

Final Score: 8/10

Artist Info

Track: Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song) (listen to the song)

Artist: Amy Grant

Album: Home for Christmas

Genre: Christmas, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1992

Duration: 5:30

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.