Cory Asbury – Sparrows

Worship pastor Cory Asbury is part of Bethel’s network of worship leaders.  He began in 2005, interning with the International House of Prayer.  He became a full-fledged artist in 2007.  He released four albums, including:

• Holy (2008)
• Let Me See Your Eyes (2009)
• Reckless Love (2018)
• To Love a Fool (2020)

Asbury received three GMA Dove Awards, two K-Love Fan Awards, and one We Love Christian Music Award for his work on Reckless Love.

Check out my reviews of Christ Be Magnified, The Father’s House, Endless Alleluia, and Reckless Love.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Cory-asbury-sparrows-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.  I strongly encourage you to consider the potential blessings and dangers of this artist‘s theology by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

This song is about God taking care of Asbury, that he should focus on God’s love for him and not life’s worries.  He knows our needs without Asbury’s requests.  He sees Asbury’s future.  He is both affectionate and moral.

I have two chief complaints.  First, the Bridge, where Asbury claims there’s more, yet, He cannot get past God’s kindness and goodness.  This doesn’t make any sense to me.  Why would Asbury think there’s more when he rests in the arms of God?  What more is there than a personal relationship with the Almighty?  This is irreverent thinking.  Perhaps Asbury means “there’s more to God than His love; However, right now, His love is so wonderful that I cannot presently process anything else”.  If so, this is worded poorly.

Second, there’s nothing in this song that implicitly points to God that cannot point to a girlfriend or wife.  Under this interpretation, Asbury trusts her so much that he need not concern himself with anything else, much like Potiphar, the jailer, and Pharaoh did with Joseph in the book of Genesis.

Score: 4/10

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

Almost all of it is Biblical.  However, I cannot find support for contrasting God’s goodness and kindness with something that goes beyond these attributes of God.

I deducted two points to assume “God” in these lyrics.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-7: References Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-32, where Jesus teaches us not to be anxious because He will take care of us.  Asbury also adds the tree that is planted by still waters (Psalm 1:3) to make the same point.

[Chorus]

Line 1: See commentary in Verse 1.

Line 2: Essentially repeats line 1.

Line 3: An equivalent rewording of Matthew 6:8.

Line 4: References Psalm 139:10.

Line 5: That is, God’s love is steadfast (Psalm 86:15 and Lamentations 3:22-24).

Line 6: This is so because God holds Asbury’s future in His hands (Proverbs 16:3, Jeremiah 29:11, Philippians 1:6, and Ephesians 2:10).

Line 7: Essentially repeats line 1.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-6: Equivalent examples of Verse 1.

Line 7: Repeats Verse 1, line 7.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-4: I don’t understand what this means.  Yes, God is kind (Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 31:21, Psalm 36:7, Psalm 63:3, Psalm 69:16, Psalm 117:2, Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 63:7, Ephesians 2:7, and Titus 3:4-6) and good (Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 119:68, Psalm 145:9, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, Romans 2:4, and James 1:17); However, what is this “more” that Asbury speaks of, and how would it contrast with God’s affection and virtue?  What transcends knowing God personally?  I don’t see any Scripture that would support this sort of thinking.  In fact, Paul says such things are rubbish (Philippians 3:8-10).

Lines 5-8: Repeats lines 1-4.

Score: 5/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Asbury uses everyday language to express his thoughts.  Though Christians will likely interpret this as God, without any clear pointers, unbelievers are more likely to conclude girlfriend than anything else.  Ironically, this interpretation makes more sense of Bridge, because there is more to life than a loving girlfriend.  Namely, a personal relationship with God!

Score: 5/10

4. What does this song glorify?

While it glorifies God that Asbury can depend on Him, to say there’s more to God than a personal relationship is misinformed at best and blasphemous at worst.  Also, its lack of pointers to God eases a secular interpretation, adding further cloudiness to His glory.

Score: 4/10

Closing Comments

Cory Asbury’s Sparrows is not that great.  If we assume that it talks about God, it showcases God’s lovingkindness towards Asbury, prompting him to avoid worry.  This glorifies God.  However, there’s nothing in these lyrics that shows unique attributes to God that can’t also find a secular interpretation, say, a girlfriend or a wife.  Also, Bridge makes more sense under the girlfriend interpretation than concluding God.

I cannot recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 4.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Sparrows (listen to the song)

Artist: Cory Asbury

Album: To Love A Fool

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2020

Duration: 3:18

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

Updates:

07/16/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Bethel Music’s theology, which Asbury is a leader.