Psalm 40, U2, War and Scripture References

I bought U2’s album War just after its initial release in 1983. The record quickly became one of my new favorites.

Years later, as I grew to collect more Jazz and Classical music, War—like many other Rock-oriented records—was essentially cast aside and listened to only occasionally.

Upon my Christian conversion in 2000, I began culling my record collection. Much of the Rock records were sold off (or even thrown away). But I kept War.

Years later, I pulled the record for a re-listen. Some of the lyrics were seen in a new light. This began when I realized that the final song of the record, “40”, was quite obviously sourcing Psalm 40. See this video here:

After discovering this, I began to listen to and read the other song lyrics anew. One that caught me right away was the following from “Drowning Man”:

Rise up, rise up with wings
Like eagles you’ll run, you’ll run
And not grow weary

I immediately recognized this as a paraphrase of Isaiah 40:31. I then realized that the entire song was loosely based on Scripture. Another rather obvious point of contact is found in these lyrics:

The storms will pass
It won’t be long now
The storms will pass
But my love lasts forever

Bono sings it from God’s perspective: Take my hand; you know I’ll be there, if you can. I’ll cross the sky for your love. I was delighted to find another vlogger who sees this as I do:

And here I originally thought this was a love song from a man to a woman!

Another point of contact finds itself in “Surrender”: If I want to live, I’ve got to die to myself. And the song “Red Light” can be read from a Christian perspective quite easily.

This all surely comes from Bono’s and other band members’ Irish Catholic upbringing.¹

After my conversion I’ve found a number of songs with an underlying Christian message. And I’ve found others that probably were not originally intended to be understood in a Christian context, yet I’ve adapted them that way nonetheless. I now have a different worldview and see things from a different perspective than I previously had. I thank God for that.

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¹ And, yes, I’m well aware of Bono’s subsequent (to this record’s release) questionable associations with globalists, etc. and his questionable beliefs, but they are beyond the scope of this post. It would be anachronistic to impose later views upon this 1983 release.