Photo by Joseph Chan
Elevation Worship is a church-led band that was created in 2007. They join Bethel Music and Hillsong as the âbig threeâ that has the biggest reach in modern Christian music. They released many albums and EPâs.
They also won nine awards, including two Billboard for Top Christian Artist (2021) and Top Christian Song (Graves into Gardens, 2021), and two GMA Dove awards for Spanish Language Album of the Year (Aleluya (En La Tierra), 2020) and Worship Recorded Song of the Year (The Blessing (Live), 2020).
Also, check out my other Elevation Worship reviews.Â
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Elevation-worship-trust-in-god-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 this artistâs theologyâs potential blessings and dangers by visiting Resources.
1. What message does the song communicate?
Elevation Worship lists several acts/attributes of Jesus, including:
- Blessed
- Rescuer
- Savior
- Never fails
- Submits perfectly
- Source of rest
- Orders tomorrow
- Answers
They also describe themselves and their response to Christ’s lovingkindness:
- Christ is theirs
- Born again
- Washed in His blood
- Places their confidence in Him
- Rested
- Follows Him
- Worships Him
- Seeks
Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Bridge’s first iteration repeats the same line three times in a row, followed by a fourth, with this entire block repeated four times. Some of it has spontaneousness within it to break it up a bit.
Score:Â 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
This entire song agrees with God’s inspired Word.
Side Note: The lyrics linked above do not contain all the spontaneous things sung throughout the recording of this song. I went through them and only heard fillers such as Casper the friendly ghost calls, “yes”, and extensions of lyrics already stated without adding any new ideas worth examining.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: This is the opening line of Fanny Crosby’s Blessed Assurance.
Christ is Elevation Worshipâs in the sense that they possess a personal relationship with Him (John 15:1-11, Acts 17:27, Romans 8:15, and Romans 11:16-24).
Line 2: References Daniel 3:25, which many understand as the pre-incarnate Christ. He will rescue Elevation Worship in times of trouble as He did with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Line 3: This is the fourth line of the first Verse of Fanny Crosby’s Blessed Assurance.
Elevation Worship is born again (John 3:3), washed by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Line 4: Through Jesus, Elevation Worship received salvation via undeserved favor (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23).
[Chorus]
Line 1: Elevation Worship has trusts in Jesus (1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Corinthians 1:24, Ephesians 6:11, Philippians 1:27, Philippians 4:1, Colossians 1:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:11, Hebrews 10:23, and 1 Peter 5:9), who is their 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).
Line 2: He always keeps His promises (Numbers 23:19, Joshua 21:45, Joshua 23:14, 1 Kings 8:56, Romans 4:21, 2 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Hebrews 10:23, and 2 Peter 3:9).
Line 3: Essentially repeats line 2.
Lines 4-6: Repeats lines 1-3.
[Verse 2]
Line 1: This is the first line of Verse 3 of Fanny Crosby’s Blessed Assurance.
While I initially considered this to be Elevation Worshipâs submission to Jesus, they, alongside the rest of us, violated Hisâs laws (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Job 15:14, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, and 1 John 1:8-10). Our submission to Christ is imperfect, thus, it canât be us.
This speaks of Christâs submission to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8) that delighted the Father (Isaiah 53:10). The Father was not happy in the sense that He harmed Jesus, but that through Christâs sacrifice, Crosby would become free from sinâs enslavement (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24). Christâs submission is perfect because He is sinless (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:24, John 19:4, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 Peter 2:21-23, and 1 John 3:5), leaving us an example to follow.
Finally, those who cling to Jesus will receive rest (Psalm 95:6-11, Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 3:1-16, and Hebrews 4:1-16). This is especially true post-death (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4).
Line 2: Combines James 4:13-15 with Psalm 119:133.
Lines 3 and 4: Much like the angels in Revelation 4:8, Elevation Worship intends to worship Him eternally.
[Bridge]
Line 1: Quotes from Psalm 34:4.
Lines 2 and 3: Repeats line 1.
Line 4: His response to them is why Elevation Worship trusts in Him.
Line 5-16: Repeats lines 1-4.
Score:Â 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
This song is primarily centered on Jesus. Elevation Worship explicitly states His name. Almost all the lyrics are written in everyday language, easing interpretation.
They will most likely think that Christians trust Jesus because He was there for them. However. many of them will likely react negatively towards “He will never fail”. From their perspective, their prayers weren’t answered, thus, “God failed”. Though misguided and incorrect, this view is extremely common among unbelievers and will have a negative impact on how they interpret/view this song. This is not Elevation Worship’s fault, but something to keep in mind when sharing this song with those who aren’t yet Christians.
Finally, the phrases “Born of His Spirit” and “washed in His blood” are Christianese phrases that, outside of research, means nothing to them. The jury’s out on the “fourth man in the fire”.
Score: 7/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus as the Blessed Savior who liberates Elevation Worship from their sinful state of folly to eternal life with Him. Elevation Worship will worship and follow Him now and forever.
Score:Â 10/10
Closing Comments
Elevation Worship’s Trust in God is trustworthy. It calls us to place our faith in Jesus because He died on the cross for us, answers us when we call, and always keeps His promises, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers should conclude similarly, though likely not understanding the meaning behind “Born of His Spirit”, “washed in His blood”, and the identity of the fourth man.
Aside from the repetition in Bridge, I recommend this song for corporate worship. However, seeker-sensitive churches might want to explain the aforementioned phrases before worshipping with this one, as well as God never failing.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Trust in God (listen to the song)
Artist: Elevation Worship (Feat. Chris Brown)
Album: CAN YOU IMAGINE?
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2023
Duration: 7:23
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Kandy
I am bothered by the line âAnd what He did for me on Calvary is more than enoughâ. It lessens our sins and the punishment required because of them. Calvary was enough, exactly what was required. If it was more, then Jesus would have gotten what He asked for when he asked His Father to take the cup from Him if possible.
colleen
It seems the new version of blessed assurance misses out on Fanny’s version there is no mention of perfectly delighting in God, there is no mention of the purchase of God or the heir of salvation or the visions of rapture It seems they have taken her hymn and well made it less than. We are missing the being able to not only be saved but delight in our saviour to also have visions of the dead in Christ meeting with those still here on earth and going to meet the Lord in the air… It seems to me they took all the great meaning of the song and downsized it while making it seem like it has more words and more content there is too much repeating in this song and God says you will not be heard for your many words. To me Fanny Crosby’s hymn while shorter had way more depth and theological content and for that reason I would sing hers over this new one .
Joseph Fillmer
Why not do both? We still sing hymns in our church so I’ll be modulating into ‘Blessed Assurance’ at the end of this one.
Vince Wright
colleen,
Thank you for your comments!
When you consider that artists such as Elevation Worship, Hillsong, and Bethel Music are appealing to the common demoninator in Christiandom, that is, the nominal Christian, and their music draws such people by the ten’s of thousands to their churches, sells albums and merchandise, and increases their video clicks, it is unsurprising that such artists produce bland music that, though is Biblically accurate, lacks depth and substance that you and I would enjoy in Christian music.
Have you seen my Song Review Index lately? Almost everything I review is milk. Generally speaking, the more popular the song is, the more likely its theological depth is shallow. When you consider who Elevation is targeting, what Elevation did to Crosby’s hymn is unsurprising. Depth isn’t popular.
Just to be clear, I’m not against milk songs. They have their place and can be appropriate for corporate worship. However, if all people are drinking is milk, then they won’t grow.
-Vince Wright
Joseph Fillmer
Sorry if this is a duplicate. I did not see my response after I posted it a minute ago. I say why not do both? I almost always tag my sets with a traditional hymn. We still sing them in our church. I plan to modulate right out of this one straight into a round of ‘Blessed Assurance’. Three verses with the refrain after each and I final refrain voices only. This is one of the more well received practices I’ve adopted. If it’s not a tag, it may be a prelude as in singing ‘Amazing Grace’ before launching into ‘This is Amazing Grace’. Try it. Ya might like it.
Vince Wright
Joseph,
Great question!
I’m not against doing both. Actually that would be great because your audience might include some people who aren’t ready for theological depth, so, milk songs are perfect for them. Personally speaking, I think a mix of milk, meat, and mixed songs is an excellent way to appeal to everyone in your audience.
-Vince Wright
Colleen
my question is this? The church has the opportunity to sing truth to worship Christ in spirit and truth and they have the choice do I pick the song rich in truth over the watered down version… Why would they choose the watered down version it makes no sense… You have the bible do you want to read a watered down version from time to time or the real thing? It seems silly and wrong to sing the less elevated worship song I’d pick the one that praises God best and Fanny’s does that not Elevations.. Also why would one want to sing songs written by churches like elevation they are prosperity God is our genie in the sky they aren’t about giving God worship they are all about what God can do for them and their music reflects that its mostly I focused and shallow on truth about God and who is in relation to us lost sinners.
Joseph Fillmer
Good commentary! I am rolling this one out on 11/5. The only real bone I have left to pick with it is that like ‘Firm Foundation (He won’t)’ it turns the word ‘fail’ into a word with far too many syllables. I gotta remember never to use both songs on the same morning. đ
Travis
I really like this song and am considering using it in my churchâs corporate worship. However, I have one issue Iâd like to have clarified. I understand the repeated line in the Bridge is a quote from Psalm 34:4 and I have no issue with this, however, the phrase that follows is, âthatâs why I trust in God.â This makes Godâs listening and answering those Heâs saved the qualification for them trusting in Him. As you said in your comments above, â[Godâs] response to them is why Elevation Worship trusts in Him.â Yet, trusting in God should be our response not for what we hope He will still do as He listens to our requests, but more so on what Heâs already done. This line of the Bridge seems to say that âI will trust in God only if He listens and answers my prayers.â In other words, if the believer seeks the Lord and they cannot immediately tell if Heâs heard or answered (seeing that many prayer requests are answered years later and some are answered with a ânoâ), does this mean that now they will not trust in God? The line comes across to me that trusting in God is dependent on Him listening and answering instead of sending His Son to die on the cross for sin. It presents a âwhat can Jesus do for me theology,â instead of a âHeâs already done enoughâ theology. Any thoughts on this?
Vince Wright
Travis,
Thank you for your inquiry!
The end of Verse 1 says, “And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough”, which Chorus immediately follows with “I trust in God, my Savior”. This tells me that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is part of why Elevation Worship trusts Him.
I hope this helps.
-Vince Wright
Jon
Hey Travis, I completely agree with you. That line doesn’t sit right with me either. Theologically, we know that God always answers, but it may not be in the way we want. Therefore, if we don’t see an answer, then He must not have heard or He’s not faithful, which means I no longer trust Him. I would agree with you that it presents a trust that is based on a results instead of truth regardless of seeing any results.
Miguel
I think scripture is clear that God’s way is higher than our way, and His wisdom is not our wisdom. I hear this song as God will never fail, thats why I trust him, not I trust Him because He answered the prayer my way. I understand your point, but if your foundational theology is sound, and that is what is being taught, this is in my humble opinion a profession of praise that God never fails, not that we get what we want after we put a quarter in the bubble gum machine. It is a worthy conversation because we have to see God as He is, not as we want Him to be.
Margie
Exactly! This line doesnât sit right with me at all. It feels too conditional. We should trust God regardless if He chooses to answer our prayers in the way we would like. He ALWAYS answers, but itâs not always a âyesâ. He also answers, no, or not yet. It could give people false hope that God will always answer the way theyâd like Him to, and could cause them to lose trust in God when He doesnât answer their way.
Colleen
I agree with you and that is what the writer wanted it to mean after all that is what elevation believes , they think God is the genie in the sky giving them their best life now… That is why I say we shouldn’t sing any of their music they do not have the correct gospel they are a false church and we should have nothing to do with the works of darkness.
Cynlynn
Wonder why no one replied to your comment âşď¸ I agree with you totallyâŚâŚ so many artists out thereâŚ. Why must our worship leaders continue to pull from false teaching churches đĽš
Kevin
Totally agree with this critique:
“This line of the Bridge seems to say that ‘I will trust in God only if He listens and answers my prayers.'”
I think we need to be very careful not just what unbelievers think of a song, but of what we are actually singing and proclaiming (and singing and proclaiming over and over because of how catchy the song is).
I’ve tried replacing “That’s why I trust him” with “Oh I trust you God,” but I keep finding myself singing the original line because it’s so catchy. Gotta watch out for this stuff!
Dan
I agree100%! Too many modern Christian songs are based on what God can do for us instead of how Holy He is!
D Hall
I agree with you, Travis. I can NOT sing this line at all when our church sings this song, and they sing it a LOT. I understand what you are saying, Miguel; however, the line from “He will never fail” and “That’s why I trust him” is obscured by the line “I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered,” which changes the direction completely.
As far as your comment, Colleen, I used to think the same way, that we shouldn’t sing songs from churches that can be unbiblical, and then I was going to a church for a little while that wrote this article, and my mind was changed:
SHOULD WE SING SONGS BY CHURCHES WE DISAGREE WITH?
At ***, we hold strong, biblical, convictions and therefore we only play theologically sound songs, that elevate God, His nature, and His Gospel. We determine thisâand this is importantâby evaluating the lyrics.
Some people think that churches are unfaithful unless they stick to hymns and songs by select denominations or leaders. We disagree. We are a highly convictional church and we embrace modern worship music when the lyrics themselves are doctrinally solid. While we might not agree with the church that wrote a song on some issues, we evaluate songs on the basis of lyrics not the artist.
Hereâs why:
01. If we evaluate songs by the church, weâd need to form an opinion on countless random churches as new songs are written. Even if we endeavored to do that, we would be shocked regularly to find that a song we selected by a respected musician or church turned out to be originally written by a church some might consider âsuspectâ because churches share songs.
02. In many cases the song writer is biblically sound, but their pastor said something incorrect. Whose credibility is the song to be evaluated on? Does it redeem the song if the worship musician leaves? Or in reverse, what if a biblically sound artist associates themselves later with a pastor or musician we disagree with? Where do we draw the line? How many degrees of separation are required? Can they befriend pastors we donât align with? Can they have friends who play at that âsuspectâ church? And whose job is it to keep track of all this moving around and general church drama anyway? This would not be a faithful use of time, attention, or overall church effort. Instead, we need to evaluate the song itself. You have to draw the line somewhere. Often times itâs hard to figure out who a song was originally written by. The clearest and most simple standard is to evaluate the lyrics themselves.
03. Condemning quality songs by association with questionable pastors would mean ripping the pages out of countless hymnals. Some might ask, âWhat if someone looks up the song and finds the pastorâs teaching? If that pastor is off, arenât we leading them astray?â In that case, the same reasoning should be applied to all the hymns by dead authors. Luther, Calvin, Edwards, and Wesley all made concerning choices that would disqualify pastors today. Charles Wesley abandoned his wife for the ministry, John Calvin burned a heretic alive publicly, and Jonathan Edwards owned slaves. Yet, none of us would throw out the theological contribution they made. This includes false teaching. Martin Luther taught some unacceptable things toward the end of his life and conservative churches still embrace his theology and worship music.
For instance, Luther wrote âA Mighty Fortress Is Our Godâ which deserves a place in our churches with its rich biblical truth. Yet, that song might be considered unfit for congregational worship when one learns that Luther, later in life, went on grotesque anti-Jewish tirades. Some point to Lutherâs thoughts on Jews as the philosophical root from which Nazism later grew. Shouldnât we throw that song out today on the standard of evaluating a songâs source rather than the song itself? Should we throw out Martin Lutherâs contribution to theology and worship? We think this throws out the baby with the bath water and dishonors the importance of how God worked thorough the young Martin Luther.
Or what about the classic hymn âIt Is Wellâ? Horacio Spafford, who wrote the hymn, is rightly condemned as a heretic for having promoted universalism. Yet, every conservative church in the nation rightly values the song. Or take, âAll Creatures of Our God and Kingâ by Francis of Assisi. The song is doctrinally edifying, but he was a Catholic Monk.
âFrancis was firmly associated with Roman Catholic doctrine, obedience to the papacy, participation in crusades and distinctively Catholic mystical phenomenaâ (Cambridge University Press). Yet many conservative churches sing âSt. Francisâ and condemn Steven Furtick. Francis couldnât write the doctrinal statement of our church. Meanwhile, Elevationâs written doctrinal statement is solidly evangelical. Whose songs should be removed? On the basis of source rather than song, we undoubtedly lose the hymn.
04. If the early church applied the same reasoning to the canonization of Scripture we would lose much of the New and Old Testament. Scripture itself is an inerrant text written by flawed leaders.
The adage is cheesy but true, God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. God wrote the Bible through David who stole Bathshebaâthrough Solomon (their son) who sank Israel into idolatry and ultimately divided the Kingdomâthrough Moses who wasnât even allowed to enter the promise land due to his sinâand through Peter, who even after being restored by Jesus, led the Galatian church into legalism and racismâeven being confronted by the Apostle Paul. Of course this is not a perfect analogy because we would never elevate a songâor any other documentâto the place of Scripture. But the point is that we should evaluate the quality of written material on the truthfulness of the text itself.
For these reasons, at *** Church, we are convinced that itâs most faithful and consistent to evaluate lyrics by the standard of Scripture rather than to try and maintain tabs on Christian tabloids, launching countless witch-hunts of various mega churches across the nation. We are convicted that this is the most consistent, realistic, and faithful leadership of the local church in regard to congregational singing. We believe it honors Godâs work in the Church today and through history.