On the radio these days, you might hear Jill Phillips singing a Pierce Pettis song called “God Believes in You.” Pettis has written some beautiful lyrics, but this particular song makes me scratch my head. I’m not sure what he means when he says God believes in me.
Merriam-Webster‘s definition for “believe“:
intransitive verb
1 a : to have a firm religious faith b : to accept as true, genuine, or real (ideals we believe in) (believes in ghosts)
2 : to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something (believe in exercise)
3 : to hold an opinion : THINK (I believe so)
transitive verb
1 a : to consider to be true or honest (believe the reports) (you wouldn’t believe how long it took) b : to accept the word or evidence of (I believe you) (couldn’t believe my ears)
2 : to hold as an opinion : SUPPOSE (I believe it will rain soon)
God has a firm religious faith in us? God accepts us as true, genuine or real? God has a firm conviction as to our goodness, efficacy, or ability? God holds an opinion on us? God considers us to be true and honest? God holds us as an opinion?
None of the above?
I get the feeling Pettis had good intentions when he wrote those lyrics, but I think they communicate the wrong idea. It sounds like a song that says God is a bit of a cheerleader rather than our sole source of strength.
Am I misreading the song? If so, what do you think Pettis meant when he wrote the song? Is there Biblical support for the idea that God “believes in” us?
How would you rewrite that line?
I guess I would have to comment that I can understand where Pierce is coming from when he comments that God believes in us. Perhaps Pierce’s meaning is that God created us and
therefore he acknowledges our existence. I cannot venture further to say anything more than that. To say that God has faith that we can do anything He empowers us to do…
I think this is possible, however, I don’t know where Pierce is coming from when he makes the lyric statement exactly.
All in all, I agree that if you are ever going to really think about writing a song such as this, you really do need to acknowledge the “grey” area of what is being addressed.
I believe that Pierce is making an assumption that everyone is thinking what he is thinking…what’s He thinking again?
“God has faith that we can do anything He empowers us to do…”
This is where my questions begin: does God really have occasion to have faith in anything? I question the word choice (faith), and I am not sure about the sentiment behind it.
But these are questions. Not assertions. It strikes me odd, but I am not sure how to back it up.
Seriously, christian artists are the most heavily critcised… What do you have, the spiritual gift of hair splitting? Are you called to police the people who are doing something in this world rather than getting out there and doing something on your own?
The problem with dictionary definitions is that they don’t understand the usage of the word in context. There are nearly unlimited subtle differences in the interpretation of a word when that word is placed among other words.
I don’t have a problem beleving that God knows my capabilities beter than I do, and that he knows/believes that I can do/withstand more than I think I can.
Let the spirit move, dude.
I quite firmly believe God knows everything there is to know about my capabilities; that’s not the issue in my mind. My problem with the song is the sentiment “God believes in you.” Whether or not Pettis (or anyone else who employs that phrasing) intended it to mean simply that God knows my capabilities, I don’t think that’s the message it conveys.