Lyrics: God, Who Cannot Lie
I've had so many, people promise me,
And like a fool I, closed my eyes and believed,
I put all my trust, in what I heard from man,
And they lied to me, as if that was their plan,
But I needed One, Who would tell me the truth,
And I know that I, must have found it with You,
'Cause I've read all the, promises that You gave,
And I believe that, You have power to save,
You've protected me, and I don't know just why,
But You promise me, promise me, You say,
"I, will be a wall of fire all around you,
I, will be the glory in your midst,
Oh I, will someday wipe those tears right from your eyes,
And I, will be your Everlasting Light,
And I, will never leave you no I won't forsake you,
I, will hold you in My hands they cannot take you,
I, will never break one of My promises,
'Cause I, am the God Who can never lie,
I'm the God Who can never lie.
Well I know there are, times when I've been uncouth,
And I admit I've, told my share of untruths,
Little white lies, well, that's put quite lightly,
Come to think of it, OKAY! I'm a liar and thief,
But You've forgiven, all the times that I've failed,
And when I'm faithless, I know You're faithful still,
You're the Rock that will, never move oh it's strange,
In this changing world, I know You'll never change,
You've told truth to me, and I still don't know why,
But You promise me, promise me, You say, "I..."
Oh, You cannot lie,
So You kept Your promise, and came to die,
Oh, I'm a lucky guy,
I'm in love with You God and You cannot lie!
You cannot lie, You cannot lie, You cannot lie, You cannot lie, when You say, "I..."
Music: My main musical themes for this song were "Interesting rhythm" and "Hope it sounds good." The chorus is a straight up 4/4, but sandwiched around the chorus are some interesting rhythmical things going on. I don't know if I can explain all of them, other than "the verses sound pretty cool, and I played all the notes in some sort of syncopation or whatever," and "the end of the chorus is like a triplet action goin' on, which is groovy," and "there's a bridge..." But suffice it to say, I wanted each section to sound unique, but be connected well, and all in the key of F, which is another wonderfully easy piano key. So it all came together quite nicely, as you'll hear, and the rhythms meshed with the poetry "like a song," as they say...
Lyrical Explanation: So here comes the heavy stuff. (And I'm not just talking about my 5th grade self...) When I started writing this song, I had just been through a heartache in the form of a breakup with someone I was 99.97% sure I was going to marry. (Of course, I was 19 at the time, so what did I know...) But it hurt. It was lame. I was not ready for it. I was not in the right mindset. I felt like I'd never be able to trust anyone ever again. Basically, I was throwing myself a great big pity party, and I was going to let the party last long after everyone else had moved on and gone home...
Then, as often happens in such times, God slapped me in the face with His word. I was reading in Zechariah, chapter 2, and it's talking about the Holy City of Jerusalem, and God says that it will be "as towns without walls...for I will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst." And that got me to thinking about God's promises to be everything we need. And it got me to thinking about Titus chapter 1 where Paul says that "God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago the hope of eternal life." And that got me to thinking about God's promise to "wipe every tear from our eyes" (Revelation 21:4) and "never to leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5). And all of those promises are ones that God will keep, because it is impossible for Him to lie. It's against His very nature. He is "the Truth," in Him there is no deceit, no shadow of turning. He is God, Who cannot lie! And He's promised me eternal life. And He's promised to always be with me. And He's promised to wipe every tear from my eyes. And He's promised to be my light, walls of fire around me, and the glory in our midst.
And when I thought about all that, it seemed kind of silly to be worrying and fretting and agonizing over one relationship that didn't work out the way I wanted it to. When the God of the Universe loves me, cares for me, promises that He'll be my comfort, He'll be my shield, and He'll never lie to me, the failures and deceit and tough stuff I go through is nothing. My true love, my first love, and my greatest love is for God, who so loved me that He sent His Son to die in my place. Breakups and heartaches and failures still hurt, and still sting, and still do all those unpleasant things, but God's love is bigger than all that, and when He makes a promise, He's going to keep it. That's what love is about. That's why I worship Him this Valentine's Day.
YouTube Version: Here's Jason and I performing the song live from our basement, which is where all the cool people are... This one has a title screen AND a Snakes on a Plane joke, so you know it's totally legit...
Album Version: The album version came out pretty well, I did a lot of percussion overdubs, and at one point had to start from scratch, but I think it came out pretty well. I did, however, stretch my voice to its absolute limits. Here's the link.
https://soundcloud.com/justin-samuel-manry/god-who-cannot-lie
Conclusion: Hopefully I didn't depress you too much this Valentine's Day, just remember God is bigger, and He loves you more than anyone else ever could... Let me know what song you'd like to hear next, what you think, and if I should just stop and move on to some other endeavor...
Singing off for now,
Justin Samuel Manry
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| Piano Hands! |
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