Photo by WestBoundary Photography chris gill
Audrey Assad began her music career while attending college at 19, working odd jobs and performing at local venues to support herself. She broke into the music industry after meeting Christian artist Matt Maher, who took her to his shows to sing back-up vocals and learn about performing on stage. While she performed for Maher, she signed with EMI Christian Music Group Publishing, writing music for other artists and created an EP, Firefly, which got the attention of Sparrow Records.
In 2009, she signed with Sparrow Records and created her first studio album in 2010: The House You’re Building. It was named “Christian Album of 2010” on Amazon and “Christian Breakthrough Album of the Year” on Apple’s iTunes. She released Heart in 2012, after which she parted with Sparrow Records and released albums under her self-titled studio: Fortunate Fall Records.
Her third overall and first independent album, Fortunate Fall, was created using a Kickstarter campaign, as well as a live concert EP O Happy Fault. It also contains the song Good To me, the subject of this review. All were released in 2013.
With her studio established, she also released Inheritance in 2016 and recently, Evergreen in 2018.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Audrey-assad-good-to-me-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?
Assad’s main thrust is that God is good, at least, to her. He is her foundation, her source of mercy, and is worthy of her adoration. He is worthy of her trust.
Side Note: To those sensitive to massive repetition, the Chorus makes up almost half the song, repeated 6 times, with each containing “You are good to me” three times and “good to me” twice, bringing the total of repeats at 30 for the phrase “good to me”. However, it doesn’t reach annoyance level until the end.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
The entire song is Biblical.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: That is, God’s promise to be good to her, even if she does not reciprocate (2 Timothy 2:13).
Line 2: God is the foundation of our Christian faith (Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 22:47, Psalm 18:31, Psalm 28:1, Psalm 62:2, Psalm 94:22, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 7:24-27, Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, Ephesians 2:20, 2 Timothy 2:19, and 1 Peter 2:6).
Line 3: We are to praise God regardless of our circumstances (Romans 14:8, Philippians 1:20, Philippians 2:17, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23, and 1 Thessalonians 5:10).
Line 4: Borrowing from Song of Solomon 2:15-16 and combined with John 15:1-10, Christ’s bride, the church and the vineyard are assaulted daily by the flesh, the word, and the devil. Despite this daily tumult, Assad’s security in God will not be shaken.
[Chorus]
Lines 1-3: Repeated 5 times,. See commentary on Verse 1, line 1.
[Verse 2]
Line 1: Quoted partially from Psalm 121:1-2, Assad communicates that God is her aid in times of trouble.
Line 2: A request for God to help her in her personal darkness, alluding back to line 1.
Line 3: See commentary in Verse 1, line 3.
Line 4: Repeats Verse 1, line 4.
[Bridge]
Line 1: Quoted from the beginning of Psalm 23:6, Assad concludes God’s mercy will follow her all the days of her life.
Line 2: See commentary in Verse 1, line 1.
Lines 3-6: Repeats lines 1 and 2.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
While non-Christians will easily see this as praising God, Assad’s lack of New Testament theology pushes unbelievers closer to Judaism than Christianity. The ambiguity over God’s promises and rationale for His goodness could drive some to further research, but that is doubtful at best.
Score: 5/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God as the One whose faithfulness causes us to worship.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Though Audrey Assad’s Good To Me is a decent song about the goodness of God, bringing Him glory. However, unbelievers will probably not see Christ without more explicit references. This will be less problematic for believers.
To those not sensitive to repetition, it might be worth considering for corporate worship.
Final Score: 9/10
Artist Info
Track: Good to Me (listen to the song)
Artist: Audrey Assad
Album: Fortunate Fall
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2013
Duration: 6:01
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
03/17/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. I updated section 1 to sideline my commentary on repetition. I also changed my recommendation. This raised its score from 8.5/10 to 9/10.
02/26/2021 – Chloe’s comments made me realize that I reviewed this song poorly, pushing too much of section 3 into the rest of the review. I significantly altered it, raising its score from 5/10 to 8.5/10.
Comments
Monique
The song has wonderful melody and she has a beautiful voice. I do agree she did not expound upon the promises of God. But she did state the promises of God. The word of God says he will perfect our praise, so from where she’s at, she was praising him from where she found him, and her testimony.
tastywallet
Monique,
Thank you for your comment! If I may ask, what promises does she state?
-TastyWallet
Nick
This review initially got me really mad, because I think Audrey Assad has produced some of the best Christian music in recent times, and that this song is no different. I realised that I am judging the song based on its context in her catalogue as well as the album, whereas, when looking at the song in isolation, it’s hard to include the purpose of the song as primarily meditative, because, in the review, one wants to ask if the song can do everything.
On the question of “is this song a full and complete exposition of Christian theology?” Good To Me probably deserves a 4.5, but this song isn’t about that at all, it’s a profession of God’s faithfulness and goodness, to be meditated on. (that purpose of meditation is also the reason why there’s SO DANG MUCH repetition of that line haha)
Also, what’s wrong with ‘Old Testament God’? While there’s probably room to mention Christ, we believe in the one God who revealed Himself to the Jewish people through the ages as the One God, we didn’t get a different God when Jesus became Incarnate.
tastywallet
Nick,
Thanks for your commentary! I see what you’re saying, but don’t 100% agree with it.
In terms of Old Testament, I’ve reworded it slightly to focus on the old testament/old covenant rather than God. I hope this clarifies my position.
-TastyWallet
Kathlena McDaniel
I have to disagree with you on your analysis of the song.
Based on what you wrote, we might as well throw out everything that David wrote in the Psalms. He was Old Testament, and focused on God, not Christ. God gave us the entire Bible, both the Old and the New Testament. He used the stories in the Old Testament to both show His faithfulness and His plan to restore mankind into a relationship with Him. Throughout the Old Testament there are prophecies and statements that point to Jesus Christ. A worship song does not have to include the full gospel or New Testament theology to be effective, just like we are to plant seeds, others water, etc.
I actually heard Audrey perform this live at a youth workers convention. When she explained where she got the idea for the song, it became one of my “go to” songs when I need to remember that God is good regardless of the circumstances I am facing. Her statement about the foxes in the vineyard is powerful.
Often Satan uses our circumstances to try and rob us of the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ. By focusing and meditating on the goodness of God, it allows us to take any temporary power we have granted Satan in our minds. And 2 Corinthians tells us that we are to take every thought captive, and I believe that this song helps aid in doing that very well.
The repetition is intentional, as it brings us to a singular focus. God is good to me! That is truth that we should meditate on. We play so many false tapes in our heads that ensnare us, but by repeating phrases over and over, it reprograms our mind. Why did the psalmists have the phrase “His love endures forever” repeat multiple times? There is a purpose!
**Edited by TastyWallet by adding paragraph breaks**
tastywallet
Kathlena,
Thank you for your rebuttal! I am sorry that I insinuated that we should throw out the Old Testament. That is not my intent. My point is that as Christians, we should relate Old Testament teachings, truths, and doctrines in light of the New Testament. To focus intently on the Old Testament is a return to Judaism, a Covenant that has, 2,000 or so years ago, was fulfilled by Christ.
You are correct in that not all songs should contain the cross or Christ crucified. Therefore, I removed my commentary about it.
I am happy that Assad gave an explanation about the thoughts behind the lyrics! However, my major criticism is about the lack of rationale on why God is good, as they appear in the lyrics, along with New Testament context and application. In other words, it’s not inherent within the lyrics in my opinion. It doesn’t stand alone, without its author to explain it.
I believe meditating on God’s goodness is great! Philippians 4:8 tells us as much. However, the Old Testament view is a heightened focus on God’s goodness, but distant in terms of relationship. At least, that is what I see in the lyrics. Once again, this is a return to Judaism.
I understand your point about repetition and the Scriptural authors use it as a reinforcement tool; However, they do not do it in succession as Assad did. It comes out worded differently in each succession, a literary tool to instill an important point.
Finally, you referred to Psalm 136 in terms of its successive repetition. As I understand it, this is a responsorial Psalm in much the way the Roman Catholic Church uses responsorials in the weekly Mass. The congregation shouts “His love endures forever” after each successive line.
-TastyWallet
Catherine
Based on your argument then every Psalm of David sung today is bound to direct people to Judaism than Christianity. The God of the Old Testament is still the God of the New testament. He is the same yesterday today and forever. I don’t agree with your analysis but I respect it as your opinion.
Vince Wright
Catherine,
Thank you for your comments! I respect your disagreement.
-Vince Wright
Awdur
You make a good point here. In our troubled times, without the song writer specifying ways in which God is good, there is no way that Christians listening to this song will be able to think of reasons on their own!
Chloe
When analyzing the message of the song, you state: “Assad focuses more on the goodness of God rather than the relationship she has with God”. It may just be the way I read this line, but it seems to suggest that our worship of God should be focused on our relationship to Him, rather than the nature of His goodness or just the fact that He is good. Isn’t God good regardless of his relationship to us? He was good before he saved us and before he even created us.
Vince Wright
Chloe,
Thank you for your comment!
After reading my own review, I’m not sure why I wrote that or why I thought it deserved such a low rating. When I get an opportunity, I’ll edit the review.
-Vince Wright