by Emily Medlock
Hey there, everyone, welcome back to another Behind the Lyrics! This week, I want to talk about a song by an artist who isn’t as well-known as my usual. The song is “I’m Gonna Let it Go” by Jason Gray. It is a beauty of a song about giving it all to Christ.
We can sing “I Surrender All” every week in church if we want to without every feeling a thing. Maybe an updated version will be just what you needed to remind you exactly what the song means. Let’s go ahead and hop into the lyrics now and you’ll see what I mean!
It’s hard for me to let go, hard for me to breathe
Thinking that I gotta control it all
I can feel my worry, and anxiety
This world is obsessed with control. Each and every one of us drives ourselves crazy with anxiety caused by this need. It is up to you to pay the bills, feed your family, compete with coworkers, and make sure that everyone sees you as someone better than you believe you are. This also prevents us from singing in our Native Tongue.
When it’s slipping through my fingers and I know it
I’ve been losing my sleep, I’ve been losing my cool
I can feel my heart go boom, boom, boom
This “need” has us lying in bed each night counting each breath we take. Controlling each step we take and each word that falls out of our mouths. But with this control comes one big flaw: you will lose it.
Starin’ at the ceiling, feeling like a fool
I’m going under and I know it
But I hear You whisper to me
What we don’t understand is that when we give ourselves control, we will lose it. We’ll have breakdowns and crises. We take it out on everyone but ourselves in order to avoid letting the façade of perfection we’ve set fall down to reveal the human beneath.
If I lose my grip I could see
That You are carrying me
Oh I’m gonna let it, I’m gonna let it go
That’s why it’s so important to give it to Him. He gave us free will, while we give Him our worries. There’s nothing in this world that feels better than letting go. When we finally do, we are no longer blinded by everything that’s holding us back.
Oh ’cause if I trusted, I could move with Your flow
Being carried in the current of Your love
When I lean into Your arms, You’re enough
When we give Him control, when we give it up to Him, we can be moved by His love. Because the worry, anxiety, stress, hate, bitterness, and unrest are keeping us from our purpose. They are controlling our gift of freewill. We think that counting the beats of our hearts and the steps of those around us, we have more freewill than ever. But this addiction controls that.
Time for me to let go, time for me to breathe
Knowing that He already holds it all
Time for me to turn down, this anxiety
I can know my freedom in a moment
This is the freedom of peace, the freedom from anxiety. This relationship with God is something I talked about in Shallow a few weeks back. Breathing in our natural state, smiling without holding back or wondering what we look like. Loving others rather than judging them based on our own strange expectations we hold for ourselves.
‘Cause when I lay it all down, You gonna lift me up
When I pour it all out You gonna fill my cup
You’re holding out your arms and telling me to jump
1-2-3 here I go yeah
Sometimes it feels like if we give up, we’ll have nothing, that we’re losers who can’t fight. That if we pour out our hearts, then we’ll be left with an empty heart. But that is the beauty of your relationship with God. He replaces every worry with a new peace. Your cup will runneth over.
For my need to control things
I’m gonna take You at Your word
I’m gonna lay down all my burdens
Letting go of my worries
Jason Gray has a specific reason for writing this song, and you can just feel the Holy Spirit blessing his words, “I think God is a gentleman, and He’ll never force Himself on us. And the first time I began to recognize that dynamic in my own life was– it says He’ll be my provider, but if I insist on providing for myself, He won’t stop me. He’ll say ‘All right, if that’s how you wanna do it, you go head and knock yourself out.’ And then I’ll get down that road, and I’m stressed and I’m aware of my bank statement every minute of every day, until I recognize that I’m doing it and this is not the way I wanna live, and I’m like ‘Okay I’m sorry, I’ve done it again, I want to trust you.’ If I insist on being in control and managing my life, the Lord will allow me to do that. But the moment when I let go, He steps in and then I’m on a different plan.”
It is so hard to trust God, no matter how many years we think we’ve been doing it. We can say we know He has it all under control, but we still worry about our next paycheck, all the while doing nothing to change the outcome.
That is our everyday struggle, but what’s really important is remembering to trust Him with more than just the tangibles. We need to trust Him with our hearts. To trust Him with every ounce of anger, resentment, joy, love, and hate that we have. We need to feel those and accept them in order for God to help us heal. In order for God to replace them with peace. When was the last time you have said, “I’m gonna let it go?”
Hope you enjoyed this song! Let me know if you have any new songs in mind for me to take a stab at next! As long as it touched your heart, I’m sure it will mine as well. Let’s stay connected!
Emily Medlock is a freelance writer who specializes in video games, movies, viral content, Christianity, music and YouTube video scripts. Visit her online at emilymedlock.com/blog.