The songs are "You Found Me," a popular hit by The Fray and "Alive Again," a rarely-heard single by Matt Maher. Each speaks passionately about the song writer's experience of being found by God. Both are convicted in the beliefs they express.

But only one expresses any understanding of who God really is.

God found you?

In "You Found Me," lead singer Isaac Slade sings:

Lying on the floor,
Surrounded, surrounded.
Why'd You have to wait?
Where were You? Where were You?
Just a little late,
You found me, You found me.

Slade later stated in an interview his reasons for writing the song. "If there is some kind of person in charge of this planet—are they sleeping? Smoking? Where are they? I just imagined running into God standing on a street corner like Bruce Springsteen, smoking a cigarette, and I'd have it out with Him."

And that's the overriding theme of the song: a man coming to God and demanding to know where He was throughout life's various trials. Because God failed to provide the protagonist of "You Found Me" with the aid he felt entitled to, his final conclusion is that God was "just a little late." (See our FAQ on why God doesn't always seem to hear us.)

He found God

Contrast this with Matt Maher's "Alive Again." Maher comes from the same starting point of feeling distant from God, but goes in an entirely different direction. He sings:

You waited for me,
I searched for You.
What took me so long?

Maher does not blame God for not being there when he wanted Him to be. He instead holds himself accountable for taking so long to get to God. The chorus shouts:

You called and You shouted,
Broke through my deafness

and

You shattered my darkness,
Washed away my blindness.
Now I'm breathin' in,
Breathin' out;
I'm alive again.

Which song is right?

Of the two songs, the Fray's "You Found Me" is far more popular. It is the mirror of a world that believes in an absentee God, who at His best is never on time in delivering the life His believers feel entitled to.

Maher's "Alive Again" is a tribute to a God who "has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

When it comes down to it, "You Found Me" and "Alive Again" are about two entirely different Gods—one who is apathetic and incompetent, or one with a carefully crafted plan for mankind who knows what He's doing.

Which do you believe in? VT