Branan Murphy – Father

Branan Murphy is rapper and pop artist.  He began his career at 18, releasing two independent projects.  He also released a mixtape, SMPLFY, that led to his signing with Sony.

Murphy released one album and three EPs, including:

• Branan Murphy (2018)
• Who Am I? (2019)
• Better King (2021)
• This World Is Not My Home (Remix EP, 2022)

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 Murphy’s heartfelt prayer, infuriatingly demanding that God respond immediately to suffering in this world caused by our dirty hands.  Yet, Murphy recognizes that God is the ultimate ruler of the universe who will respond on His timing, not Murphy’s.  Should God’s will be that suffering continues, Murphy desires His consolation.

Score: 10/10

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

The entire song agrees with the Bible.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

Headlines screaming in my face
Welcome to another day
More of the same ole, same ole pain on planet earth
Sirens flying, no escape
How could I look away?
Too much to get through, I need a rescue, how long do we have to wait on planet earth?

A prayer offered to God for rescue amid suffering, inquiring God’s timetable for response (Psalm 13:1, Psalm 94:3-4, Lamentations 5:20, and Job 13:24).

[Pre-Chorus]

Like I’m in a movie that I don’t wanna see
Eight billion episodes of tragedy

Describes the entire sum of humanity on earth, with all of its inhabitants experiencing unwanted problems.  Verse 2 tells us the responsible party for these episodes.

[Chorus]

Father

God the Father.  Murphy’s prayer in the Verses is offered to Him.

Father

Repeats line 1.

Can you hear us crying out

Murphy prays this not in doubt of God’s providence, but in frustration that He isn’t responding like we want Him to: immediately.

Even if we don’t know how

Sometimes we don’t know how to pray as we should, implying that the Holy Spirit will intercede on our behalf (Romans 8:26).

Father
Father

Repeats line 1.

Oh we need your love and we need it now

That is, a personal, deep, felt experience of God’s love to Murphy.  I appreciate Murphy’s honest admission of impatience for God to act, which is easily relatable to those of us experiencing deep wounds.

Will you come and dry our tears?
Cause we’re all just children here

It references the parent’s natural instinct to dry the tears of their child.  If God is the Father, then it stands to reason that all of us are His children, specifically, adopted sons and daughters (John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3).

The father’s loving response to our weepiness is His comfort (Psalm 23:4, Psalm 71:21, Psalm 119:50-52, Psalm 119:76, Psalm 119:82, Isaiah 51:3, Isaiah 57:18, Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 66:13, Zechariah 1:17, Matthew 5:4, Matthew 11:28-30, and 2 Corinthians 1:3-7).  Though God does not hear the prayers of sinners (John 9:31), He will hear those who come to Him with a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).

[Verse 2]

Are we numb to all we’ve seen?
Maybe it’s just a bad dream
We turn our misery into memes on planet earth
So much damage to undo
From self-inflicted wounds
We went fishing for division, mission accomplished, that’s how we living on planet earth

Murphy places most of the blame where it belongs.  Aside from calamity, or natural phenomena (Isaiah 45:7), it’s our fault that planet earth is as bad as it is (Psalm 38:18, Psalm 40:12, Psalm 51:3-4, Job 33:27, Isaiah 59:12, Jeremiah 3:25, and Luke 15:18).  However, instead of doing something about it, some of us have chosen to make light of sin, leading to further destruction by passing it onto later generations (Deuteronomy 5:9 and Numbers 14:18).  A nation divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12:25, Mark 3:25, and Luke 11:18).

[Bridge]

Tell us it’ll be ok

Not in the sense that Murphy desires God to lie even when things will continue this way for a while, but that God will use evil for His glory (Genesis 50:20) and will exact vengeance on the wicked (Deuteronomy 32:34-43, Psalm 94:1-2, Proverbs 20:22, Romans 12:19, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8, and Hebrews 10:26-31).

Show us that
you’re wide awake
When the sad song don’t fade
Remind us that you run this place

Murphy seeks a sign that God is still near and not aloof; that He is sovereign (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11).  Though signs are often asked in doubt, God has granted signs in the past to confirm His Word to Gideon (Judges 2:9-14) and Christ’s resurrection to “doubting” Thomas (John 20:25-26).

No I’m not ashamed to say I just need my dad

Only the adopted sons and daughters of the Most High have the right to call God Abba, meaning “daddy” (Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6). It is a name that invokes intimacy and reverence for God.  I appreciate Murphy’s humility to ask his Daddy for help.

When it all goes south
Your presence is all around

God is omnipresent (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 4:13).

And when the heart pounds
I know you’re familiar with that sound

God knows Murphy’s heart (1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Kings 8:39, Psalm 44:21, Psalm 139:1, Proverbs 16:2, Jeremiah 17:10, and Luke 16:15).

It’s the reason why you made a way out

A subtle hint to the cross.  He knew that apart from Christ’s shed blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).  Yet, it was His love for us that was His reason for sending Christ to bear our guilt (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).

[Tag]

If the pain won’t disappear
We just need to know you’re near

See Bridge, lines 2-5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will think it’s Christian because “us” goes before the Father for help.  They will know that Christians are asking their Daddy for compassion, either to thwart the plans of evildoers or to grant them a divine hug.  However, they may easily miss the subtle hint that connects human suffering with the cross.

Side Note: For some, God’s seeming irresponsibility to stop evil from occurring is a major sticking point.  However, God did something about it.  He gave us three institutions and one sword to address evil: the government that punishes evildoers (Romans 13:1-4 and 1 Peter 2:13-14), the church through spreading the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20), the family unit that disciplines their children (Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 19:18, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs 23:13-15, Proverbs 29:15-17, Ephesians 6:4, and Hebrews 12:11), and the Word of God that cuts deeper than bone and flesh (Hebrews 4:12).  More importantly, He gave us Jesus, who paid for our evil behavior on a Roman cross (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).

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies the Father as the source of Murphy’s relief regardless of how God chooses to respond and when.  It also glorifies Him that Murphy lays blame on humanity for causing the majority of the world’s problems.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Branan Murphy’s Father is an excellent wake-up call.  In a world where many people fail to take responsibility for their actions, Murphy indicts all of us as the primary cause of human tragedy.  He prays on behalf of the world, that God would stop evil from spreading, knowing that God will do what He wants.  If He won’t cause suffering to cease, then Murphy asks for comfort.  These glorify God.  Unbelievers should easily interpret similarly, even if they find it difficult to believe that God is in control.

This song is inspirational, but not appropriate for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Father (listen to the song)

Artist: Branan Murphy

Album: N/A

Genre:  Pop

Release Year: 2022

Duration: 3:33

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*Copyright © 2022 Branan Murphy (Hank Murphy Music / Dream Label Group Publishing (ASCAP) / admin. at Right Angle Music)), Jordan Sapp (Capitol CMG Paragon / Songs ByJSapp (BMI) / admin. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com), Paul Duncan (Centricity Music Publishing/Shi-Lily Songs (ASCAP) admin. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.