A Domination of Lust or Love

I’ve found solace in coffee shop patios and solitude lately. My thoughts have been a bit of everywhere and it’s difficult to allow myself to just think and write and be when life’s chaos knocks at the front door. Lana Del Rey was my #1 Spotify Wrapped artist of the year for 2023, and she likely will be again. Her music has streamed through my headphones frequently. I don’t listen much to pop radio these days, but her music’s melancholic feel and poetic writing is soothing. One interlude, in particular, stood out to me a couple months ago. A charismatic, slightly aggressive voice suddenly overpowered the calming resonance of her voice. I heard scriptures and God mentioned, which I found surprising for a Lana album. I couldn’t quite understand the words, but was afraid it might be poetic blasphemy. Pop culture tends to find this sexy. I don’t. So, I skipped it. I did what all millennials do and did a quick Google research. I typed a few words.

“Judah Smith Interlude”

I was stunned. Lana Del Rey featured a pastor on her album? At that time, I had no idea he was a prestigious megachurch pastor. I didn’t even recognize the name. To my utter shock, the words spoke to me deeper than most of those in the Christian genre. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of being “In love”, and how Love is a verb. I’ve prayed and been trying to make a conscious effort to “Exist in Love”, which is quite literally what it is to be “In love”. Being in love is not just a romantic butterfly. It is an action and a way of life. It’s being Love (And God is love) for what’s right in front of you and around you. The words to Judah Smith’s interlude mimic these thoughts in the most fascinating way. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was…powerful. I added it to a playlist and kind of laughed to myself,

“I didn’t expect a Lana Del Rey album to minister to me.”

And that’s the thing. God is indeed integrated and interwoven in strange ways; ways we don’t anticipate. So often we segregate a Sunday service or small group or daily devotion as the only culturally accepted ways to experience God. But omnipotence and omnipresence aren’t made for boxes. Beneath its Glory, boxes are ripped and crushed and enfolded and sometimes disposed. May our eyes be open to such splendor and surprise. The Judah Smith interlude stitched into Lana Del Rey’s blend of moody, retro songs is worth a pause. Keep reading below, and if you’re feeling edgy and audacious, search up “Judah Smith interlude” and give it a listen.

“Don't you understand what that means?

It means quit lusting after your neighbor

That's a heck of a life

You get to love your children in front of you

You get to love, you have to talk to somebody about a new life

I don't love my wife anymore, I don't love my kids anymore

Missin' out on life, they're usually my age

Does that sound like love?

It's a life dominated with lust

And for too long, they've been holding on

And finally, they just get weak and they say

It doesn't matter anymore

And the Spirit of God says

I'll infuse you with desires

With what you have and what's in front of you

So, as He works deep in your heart

As you call out to Him, and say

I'm here doin' it, man

Help me want what I got

Help me love what's in front of me

Help me want more of my wife and more of my friends

And help me serve the city I live in

And not wish it away and hope I can move

Help me, God

I wanna be a man of love

Not a man in lust

But you gotta do that

And so I bring you to this verse, and I'm done, I'm done

Psalms Chapter 8

And do you know where I got this verse?

This is gonna sound crazy to you, but I'm gonna tell you the absolute truth

It's gonna make me sound so superior to us all

I'm looking forward to it

I woke up this morning and God said, ‘Check the Bible’

I don't know if it was God, but it felt like God

I thought the thought in my head, ‘Check the Bible’

I'm gonna speak to you from the verse of the day

That means I don't have to do anything, I don't have to look anywhere

Just look at the verse of the day

So I get to the verse of the day and here's the verse of the day

Today, in the Bible

Look at this

Look at the splendor of the skies

You creative genius glowing in the Heavens

When I gaze, when I gaze at Your moon and Your stars

Mounted like jewels in their setting

I know You are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all

When I look up and I see such wonder and workmanship above

I have to ask this question

I gotta ask this question

Compared to all this cosmic glory

Why would you ever bother with puny, mortal man or be

Ooh, don't get me started

I could read you another hour on infatuated

Or be infatuated with Adam's son?

Why are you so infatuated with me?

You're the star reader, You're the ocean maker

You're the whale creator, you're the rhino designer

Who do, are you man?

And then it goes on in verse 5

And it says, ‘Yet what honor you have given to me

Created only a little lower than Elohim

Which is the name of Creator God

‘Artist God’

You wanna call God ‘Artist?’

At some point tonight before you go to bed, be like

‘Yo, Elohim, ‘ and He'll hear, ‘You're the best artist ever’

Below Elohim, crowned like kings and queens with glory and magnificence

You have delighted, You have delegated to them mastery over all you have made

You've made me a partner with you

I wish to think my preaching was mostly about you

And you're not gonna like this but I'm gonna to tell you the truth

I've discovered my preaching is mostly about me.”