“God’s Country” by Blake Shelton
Right outside of this one church town
There’s a gold dirt road to a whole lot of nothin’
Got a deed to the land, but it ain’t my ground
This is God’s country
We pray for rain, and thank Him when it’s fallen
‘Cause it brings a grain and a little bit of money
We put it back in the plate
I guess that’s why they call it God’s countryI saw the light in the sunrise
Sittin’ back in a 40 on the muddy riverside
Gettin’ baptized in holy water and ‘shine
With the dogs runnin’
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistled in the wind, that’ll get you Heaven bound
The Devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around
This is God’s countryWe turned the dirt and worked until the week’s done
We take a break and break bread on Sunday
And then do it all again
‘Cause we’re proud to be from God’s country (yeah, yeah)I saw the light in the sunrise
Sittin’ back in a 40 on the muddy riverside
Gettin’ baptized in holy water and ‘shine
With the dogs runnin’
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistled in the wind, that’ll get you Heaven bound
The Devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around
This is God’s country (yeah)God’s countryI don’t care what my headstone reads
Or what kind of pinewood box I end up in
When it’s my time, lay me six feet deep
In God’s country (yeah, yeah)I saw the light in the sunrise
Sittin’ back in a 40 on the muddy riverside
Gettin’ baptized in holy water and ‘shine
With the dogs runnin’
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistled in the wind, that’ll get you Heaven bound
The devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around
This is God’s country (God’s country)
Yeah, I saw the light in the sunrise
Sittin’ back in a 40 on the muddy riverside
Gettin’ baptized in holy water and ‘shine
With the dogs runnin’
Saved by the sound of the been found
Dixie whistled in the wind, that’ll get you Heaven bound
The Devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around
This is God’s country
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Devin Dawson / Jordan Schmidt / Michael Wilson Hardy
Dear God, I was helping a relative do some manual labor work yesterday and this song came on their playlist. I hadn’t heard it before. When I heard the phrase “God’s country,” I started paying attention to the lyrics. I had an immediate negative reaction to the song. As I listened more and heard him talk about being baptized by the rain and such I started to wonder if I shouldn’t like this song and maybe I was missing something. I decided then that I would look at it again this morning and spend some time thinking about what was rubbing me the wrong way and discern if I was wrong or if it was perhaps revealing a truth about our world.
In the end, I think it’s possible that Mr. Shelton and the writers of this song have relationships with you that are deep and personal, but I think this song affirms a view of you that’s not much different than the Greeks had of Zeus. You are this big powerful up there who expects our worship, tributes, and even our tithe, but where’s the relationship? Where’s the humility? Where’s the “love the Lord your God with all your mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself”? Is it implied? In the lyrics. Maybe Shelton and the writers intended to imply it, but I would bet that a lot of the people who love the song don’t infer that.
This goes back to the theme of my prayers to. You over the last couple of months when I heard the sermon by Andy Stanley when he talked about the difference between being a believer in you and a follower of you. A believer just gives you your homage (maybe) and prays when they want something. A follower seeks to be transformed by you into your likeness. A follower works out their faith with fear and trembling. A follower sincerely asks what Jesus would do, not just to decide what action to take, but to also repent of the part of their heart that doesn’t want to follow that path.
Father, any song that talks about you but drives me to strut around with my chest out is probably not giving me the right ideas. Like I said, Mr. Shelton and the writers of this song might be in deep relationship with you, but I can completely see this song being played over loudspeakers at a Christian Nationalist event. So help me to put songs like this in their place. They aren’t bad. I would just call it incomplete. There’s nothing wrong with feeling confident in you and your provision. There’s nothing wrong with feeling proud of my faith. Just help me to remember that there’s more. There’s this time. There’s the time I spend praying to you—repenting and seeking your wisdom and insight. I need wisdom and insight right now. Help me.
In Jesus’s name I pray,
Amen
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