A God of Positive Promise: Unplugging U2’s “Yahweh”

Part 7 in the U2 Unplugged Series

“Don’t let the bastards grind it out of you.” This motto, popularized by a general in the U.S. Army during World War II, symbolized the harsh reality of a soldier in the midst of a bitter war. Be tough. Be persistent. Or the enemy is going to outlast and defeat you. This teeth-clenching, us-against-the-world attitude is reflected in U2’s “Acrobat” on the 1991 Achtung Baby album. Bono sings “Don’t let the bastards grind it out of you” in the song’s chorus. In doing so, he expresses the mindset of defiance and self preservation that we can find ourselves falling into during hard times and when the world, even God, seems to be against us. Gut instinct says this attitude is exactly what you need to survive in this hostile world.

Thirteen years after the release of “Acrobat”, U2 sings a much different tune with “Yahweh” [Lyrics] [iTunes], the final track on their How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb release. If “Acrobat” is all about self-protection, “Yahweh” is nothing less than a step-by-step guide to abandoning yourself. Where “Acrobat” raises a fist at pain, “Yahweh” actually embraces it. This spiritual journey – from a self-absorbed “acrobat” to someone willing to give everything to God – mirrors the path that all people must take once they decide to live for Jesus Christ. We all start out preoccupied with ourselves, but God brings us to the point where we are asked to give it all up for Him.

In “Yahweh”, U2 sums up the heart of what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about. The song is a broad, open-ended invitation for God to take over every part of your life, even when pain and suffering floods in around you. According to U2, you can make this offering with hope and confidence because of one reason: God is who He says He is; He is Yahweh.

The Disassembly

It’s easy to fall into the crowd of the half-committed. In school, we slack off, putting only as much effort into studying as we need to for an ok grade. At work, we “do the time”, but nothing more. The worship thing is standard fare on Sunday morning, but we don’t give a second thought as to how our faith should impact the rest of our lives. Being half-committed is not all bad, we rationalize. We know that a certain amount of effort is required; we just don’t want to go overboard getting there.

Yet, when you read the New Testament, you will never find a half-committed crowd following Jesus. “If anyone would come after me,” Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” And, in case things are not clear enough, he adds in Luke 14:27: “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” As you can see, when Jesus talks to people about following Him, He never makes a sales pitch or coerces anyone to follow Him. Instead, Jesus defines discipleship in all-or-nothing, even unattractive terms. He never allows room for bare minimums, loopholes, or half ways. “Yahweh” is a song sung from the perspective of a Christian who understands that you can’t truly follow Christ as a “me-first acrobat” or a member of the half committed crowd. Instead, when Jesus calls you, He wants all of you.

At first, the idea of “taking up your cross daily” sounds like nothing more than slave labor. But, Jesus says something amazing in Matthew 11:30: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” In other words, no matter how much that command sounds like drudgery, the real effect is the exact opposite: by giving up your life for Jesus Christ, you receive more life in return. As you listen to the lyrics of “Yahweh”, notice how the song clearly expresses this perspective: Bono never sings about giving up his life as a burden, chore, or obligation. Instead, it becomes an activity he is eager to do. In that spirit, Bono uses the three verses of “Yahweh” to disassemble every part of his life – shoes, hands, heart, soul, mouth, and church – and hand these pieces over to God.

As the first verse begins, Bono asks God to “take these shoes”. By offering your shoes, you invite God to take control of where you are headed in life. You ask Him to redirect you from “click clacking down some dead end street” to the exact direction that He wants you to go. Maybe you are working in a job that you despise and see no real importance to what you are doing. Maybe your college major is motivated more by Ben Franklins than by Jesus Christ. If so, follow the path that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah did. When ancient Israel was in disarray because of sin, God was looking for someone to send as His prophet to bring the Israelites back to their faith. Isaiah responded to God in simple, but powerful words: “Here am I, send me.” The prophet Isaiah was inviting God to do exactly what Bono is singing about: I’ll go where you want me to go. I’ll do what you want me to do. Just take my shoes and make them fit. By starting out with shoes, U2 helps signify that your Christian faith becomes real the moment you are willing to let God change the Big Stuff in your life and “make them fit” into His plans rather than your personal agenda.

Our feet guide us to the major paths we walk on, but our hands do the actual work along the way. That’s why Bono starts off the second verse with: “Take these hands, teach them what to carry.” In other words, not only do we give God the significant choices of our lives, but also the small, everyday decisions along the way – how you treat your neighbor, what you spend your money on, what you do with your free time, how much of your day is spent alone with God. Author Oswald Chambers warns of blowing off the small details of your life, saying, “Beware of allowing yourself to think shallow concerns of life are not ordained of God. They are as much of God as the profound.”

When Bono sings “Take this shirt and make it clean”, he moves from surrendering what we do with our life to offering who we are. The shirt, symbolizing a heart that is stained by sin, is not worth much by itself. In fact, because of these stains, it is nothing more than “polyester white trash made in nowhere”. Without help from God, this reality is depressing, because it means, in essence, you are as worthless as a Wal-Mart closeout. But, if you believe in the cleansing work that Jesus did on the cross, God will scrub your sin-stained heart and make it clean (1 John 1:7, Isaiah 1:18).

As the first verse concludes, Bono invites God to “take this soul, make it sing”. The soul is the part of you and I that is handcrafted for eternity. It’s the part that makes you, you. So much of what you experience – thoughts, dreams, love, emotion, and decisions – belong to your soul. While we are “stranded in some skin and bones” as we walk on this earth for seventy or eighty years, our souls are created to live forever, either with God or without Him. If we believe in Jesus Christ, God will make our souls sing as we praise and glorify Him (Ephesians 5:19).

In James 3, the Apostle James spends several verses warning Christians about the dangers of our mouths. Yes, it is a small part of your body, but a heap of sin can spew from it: you can criticize others, brag about yourself, talk trash, to name a few. But, in spite of the potential for evil, the mouth can also be used for incredible good when you use it to worship and praise God. In “Yahweh”, Bono asks God to “take this mouth, give it a kiss.” When God gives you a holy kiss, two things happen. First, you avoid the traps of sinful talk because, to accept a kiss, you naturally have to shut up and be silent to receive it. Second, you are empowered by God to show this same love to others around you, both in word and action.

The first two verses of “Yahweh” invite God to take over every part of your individual life. In the third verse, U2 takes the next step, moving from the “I” to the “us”. “Take this city, a city should be shining on a hill,” sings Bono. Bono is referencing what Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” We have a tendency to personalize that passage, but individual Christians aren’t supposed to be the city; instead, all believers together – the worldwide church – are called to be a “city on a hill”. As the city on a hill, the church is supposed to shine the light of Christ to everyone living around it, especially in the darkness of night. Sadly, history is filled with scores of examples in which well-intentioned people in the church started doing what they thought was God’s work, but forgot all about asking God what He wanted. Therefore, a city on a hill cannot power itself, but must continually seek the power of Jesus Christ as it regularly and fully submits to God.

Bono closes the song with the ultimate expression of surrender and trust when he sings, “Take this heart and make it break”. In this line, he is echoing the Apostle Paul who said that since we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, we can actually rejoice in our suffering (Romans 5:1-5). Paul isn’t saying you have to sadistically love going through hard times. Instead, what he realizes is that when we suffer, we change inside. We develop perseverance, character, and hope. God then uses suffering to mold us into “little Christs”. If you trust in Him enough, you can follow Bono’s lead and invite God to break your heart, because you know He is going to handle you with care.

The great ‘I AM’

In a perfect world, Bono’s brand of total surrender would be a no-brainer. After all, if you could be certain that handing over the keys to God would bring instant meaning, security, and excitement, then what could be more natural than giving everything to Him? The reality, however, is far muddier; we are called to make these decisions within a world that is suffering all around us. Bono speaks of this truth in the chorus:

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born

Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Just a quick scan of CNN shows that pain is everywhere. A tsunami kills hundreds of thousands of people. A terrorist act crashes an airplane. An innocent child dies in a freak accident. When these occur, God looks out of touch with events. As U2 suggests, questions naturally swirl in our heads: “Why the dark before the dawn?”

Yet, in spite of the pain and longsuffering that we have to endure, U2’s overriding message in “Yahweh” is one of obedience and hope in the midst of all this uncertainty. On the surface, the reasons for responding in this manner seem missing from the song itself. If you dive deeper into the chorus, however, one word begins to stand out as the reason that makes this sacrifice worth it. That word is Yahweh.

Yahweh is the proper name for God that is used in the Bible. This name first appears in Exodus 3:14 when God tells Moses: “I AM WHO I AM”, which can be expressed in Hebrew as the name Yahweh (or Jehovah). [Most English translations of the Bible, such as the NIV, use LORD (uppercase) to signify Yahweh, while Adonai – the other name commonly used to refer to God – is shown as Lord (lowercase).] God is also referred to as Yahweh in many places across the Bible. When the name Yahweh is used by the author, certain aspects of God’s character are being continually stressed.

First, Yahweh is an awesome God. The name Yahweh entails all those awesome “incommunicable” qualities of God that blow your mind when you try to think about them. As you can tell by what God tells Moses in Exodus – I AM WHO I AM – the name signifies that God is eternal and unchangeable, has always existed, and is not dependent on anyone or anything. Clearly, Yahweh is a God you can count on, because He is not going anywhere.

Second, Yahweh is a God of love, compassion, and grace. He offers a way out of sin and judgment for people who believe in Him. Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is the ultimate expression of Yahweh’s love for us.

Third, Yahweh is a God of trust and hope. According to Malachi 3:6, He is “unchangeably faithful” and will do all that He has promised us. When the Old Testament prophets gave a prophesy, they would always use the name Yahweh to claim its authority (“thus saith Yahweh”). Perhaps the Phillips translation of 2 Corinthians sums it up best when it identifies Him as “this God of positive promise”.

As a result, since Yahweh has the goods, has the love, and will keep His promises, what other response can we make than to follow Bono’s lead and surrender our lives to Him? Even when circumstances in our lives are hard, we have the assurance that when all is said and done, Yahweh is going work things out perfectly according to His will. In the bridge of “Yahweh”, Bono sings of this promise:

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up

The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

We eagerly await the dawn, the return of Jesus Christ, when God will finally conquer and defeat sin and bring justice and mercy to all who trust in Him. The dawn that Bono sings about is possible because of Yahweh’s boundless love.

* * * * *

Life is hard. Without a disciple’s faith in Jesus Christ, we are almost certain to go on the defensive and scream out as “Acrobat” does: “Don’t let the bastards grind it out of you!” But, when you begin to understand who you are – “polyester white trash made in nowhere” – and who God is – “Yahweh”, then your whole outlook on life changes. You begin to realize that the real enemy is not God or others in the world around you, but the sin festering deep inside of your heart.

Theologian Will Campbell was once challenged to sum up Christianity in ten words or less. His response was: “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway.” Campbell is exactly right. We are the illegitimate ones in the eyes of God: the “bastards” that we should have been shaking our fist at all along are no one other than ourselves. Yet, as U2 reminds us, Yahweh is a God whose “love is like a drop in the ocean”. He wants no more finger pointing or fist clenching. He wants you to simply surrender your life to Him. This God of positive promise will then do the rest: grinding the sin out of you and adopting you fully into His family, making you illegitimate no more.

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Action Steps


U2’s “Yahweh” invites God to take over every part of your life, regardless of the circumstances that you find yourself in. As you consider who Yahweh is and how you should respond to Him, consider the following action steps:

Read Luke 9:23 and Luke 14:27. After studying these passages, prayerfully examine your heart: are you willing to surrender every part of your life to God? If so, make that commitment to God today, handing over your shoes, hands, heart, soul, and church to Him.

Get a Study Bible and explore the different names of God used in the Bible and their meanings.

Diving Deeper

Exodus 3:14; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27; Isaiah 6:8; Romans 5:1-5; 1 John 1:7, Isaiah 1:18.