“this world still smells like everything i hate
but im learning to love till that’s just not the case”
— The Gospel Whiskey Runners

We shall overcome.

We make things small. It’s only natural.

We seek comfort in understanding and in being able to relate to things. 

Sometimes we make God too small. It’s a natural effort to understand something we can never fully comprehend. But there are consequences to making God too small. We forget how powerful He is and we forget how instrumental He is. Quickly, we shall becomes…

we might…

or maybe we will…

or hopefully if all of these things that won’t ever happen…happen we will overcome. 

The phrase “We shall overcome” comes from an African gospel song “I’ll overcome someday” written by Charles Tindley. The phrase became popular during the civil rights movement. 

Despite a history that was marred by subjugation the phrase was rooted in not a hope but rather a belief in justice. It was not we might. It was we shall. 

Saying we shall requires a belief in a large God. In a God that you can’t fully understand but that you know is beyond powerful. That you know can transform we might in to we shall. 

I can just imagine the Israelites bound in deep chains struggling to believe that they shall overcome, but then came Moses.

I can imagine when Paul was in jail he was quietly saying We shall overcome.

What gave them this faith? What gave them the audacity to say we shall when every ounce of history had indicated that their future would not meet a brighter day?

It was the belief in a God that is larger than they can fully understand. 

In Mark there is an interesting “We shall passage.” A father is asking Jesus to help heal his child who has been suffering from illness. He says, 

“If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!” Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen”

Notice how quickly Jesus takes if and transforms his question into a powerful statement of God’s abilities.

Martin Luther King one my personal heros was famous for using the phrase “We Shall Overcome”

Martin Luther king explains in this speech We shall overcome

“…because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice…And with this faith we will go out and adjourn the counsels of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism and we will be able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. And this will be a great America! We will be the participants in making it so.”

Powerful words for people with a powerful belief in God’s incredible strength and love.