NEEDTOBREATHE – Testify

About a month ago, I wrote a glowing review of NEEDTOBREATHE’s Multiplied.  With three independent albums, six studio albums, and ten Dove awards, they have had a lasting impact on the Christian music genre.  Hopefully, Testify will have a similar effect on their listeners.

I learned something new about NEEDTOBREATHE as I prepared this article.  On April 20–22, 2017, they opened for Faith Hill and Tim MCGraw’s Soul2Soul The World Tour 2017.  This is fascinating considering that both play completely different genres and provides an opportunity for them to share Jesus with country listeners.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Needtobreathe-testify-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?

I find this message confusing.  What is NEEDTOBREATHE talking about?  I have a vague sense that they speak for God and Verse 2 line 1 has me convinced that this was the intent; However, pronoun capitalization would have helped.  Speaking for God is a very dangerous prospect which ought to handle with care.  Old Testament prophets were killed for falsely speaking on God’s behalf.  Unfortunately for NEEDTOBREATHE, they contradicted the Word of God on two occasions (see section 2), which would have earned their death under the old covenant.  This greatly compromises their message.

While I find it difficult to discern these mysterious lyrics, I postulate that NEEDTOBREATHE’s message is that God wants us to seek Him with all our hearts, away from the sinful lifestyle of our youth.  While this is a great message, they communicated it poorly.

Score: 2/10

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

Its vague message makes it extremely difficult to discern its biblical accuracy.  For the majority of lyrics, the best I can offer is guesswork.  There are also several lines that run contrary to Scripture.

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: While there are passages of Scripture that point to our sinful heart condition (Psalm 12:1-3, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10-12, and Romans 3:23), God transforming and protecting our heart (Psalm 37:4 and Philippians 4:7) and are commanded to trust in God with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5), the closest Scripture where God asks for our heart (or our song for that matter) is Jeremiah 29:13.

Line 3: Jesus is the source of the fountain that is living water (see Psalm 36:8-9, Psalm 87:7, Proverbs 14:27, Jeremiah 2:13, John 4:13-14, John 7:37-39, John 10:10, and Revelation 7:17).

Lines 4 and 5: Yes there is and yes you can, but where is it?  Is it in this fountain described in line 3?  That seems probable, but it’s not a clear as I would like.

Line 6: While the first part repeats the first part of line 3, the subject that speaks is still unclear.  Is it Jesus?  If so, I do not understand the connection between coming to the fountain that is Jesus and His desire to hear us testify.  Perhaps NEEDTOBREATHE refers to testimony as a means to spread the Gospel, consistent with Jesus’ great commission in Matthew 28:18-20?  Once again, it is not crystal clear.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-3: What world is that?  My best guess is the world of sin, given the words “wild” and “youth” in line 1.

Lines 4 and 5: Assuming I am correct about lines 1-3 and that Jesus speaks in this verse, this runs contrary to Romans 5:6-8, which teaches Christ gave Himself even before we “let go”.  He died for us while we were in our sinful state.  It is not conditioned upon our repentance.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: Poetic license on the depths of God’s love.

Lines 2 and 3: Once again, this is a direct contradiction to Romans 5:6-8 for the same reasons cited in Verse 1, lines 4-5.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-4: Up until this point, I was able to either offer a clear passage of Scripture or an educated guess.  For these four lines, I have nothing to offer.  I considered that God’s creation reveals who He is (Genesis 1, Psalm 19:1-4, and Romans 1:20); however, it’s probably not that.

Score: 3/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Most likely, some sort of boyfriend or girlfriend in a more, shall we say, illicit relationship.  A satisfactory fountain.  Lost inside.  Giving away one’s self to someone else.  Deep calling to deep.  Letting go.  All the evidence is there for this alternative interpretation.  Sadly, this actually makes more sense than what NEEDTOBREATHE intended.  Ouch.

Score: 0/10

4. What does this song glorify?

I’m not sure what it glorifies.  If my interpretation offered in section 3 is correct, it is fornication.  If not, God’s glory is so thickly hidden, I can barely peer through the veil.

Score: 1/10

Closing Comments

NEEDTOBREATHE’s Testify is a major disappointment.  Its message about finding God is obfuscated with generic lyrics more likely interpreted as immoral relational behavior, with a few lines that contradict the Bible.  While this song does contain a few lines that correctly quote the Word of God, its overwhelmingly obscure stanzas barely glorifies God, if at all.

Steer clear from this one.

Final Score: 2/10

Artist Info

Track: Testify (listen to the song)

Artist: NEEDTOBREATHE

Album: H A R D L O V E

Genre: Pop, Rock

Release Year: 2016

Duration: 4:03

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

Updates:

06/29/2021 – After consulting several sources, I changed my mind on the context and meaning of Psalm 42:7, which is about the depth of God’s severe dealings and not love.  Therefore, I removed it from this review.