thoughts from "Shake it Out" by Florence + the Machine‏

I have not investigated what Florence and her machine say about this song, but I have spent a lot of time listening to it.

You can listen to it HERE.

So if what she intended and what I interpreted are two different things, go with her explanation with regard to what the song is supposed to communicate, but go with me now while I explain what it means to me.

Below are some lyrics selected from “Shake it Out”

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind

I can see no way, I can see no way

I'm always dragging that horse around
Our love is questioned, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road

And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat

'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me, yeah

The imagery of sin is strong in this song. Both in surrender to it and desire to be free from it. The desire to have been better than we know we have been and to be worse now than we wish we were. To not only be the person that did that horrible thing, but to be the kind of person that would do that thing again. Not merely being haunted by past mistakes, but presently realizing that the mistakes were not the biggest problem. If I find myself covered in grime, I am disgusted by the state I have let myself go, but also must face the fact that even if I get cleaned up, I am the type of person who gravitates toward grime.

“I can see no way, I can see no way”

What I want is frustrated by who I am.

Who I am is frustrated by what I want.

I have wanted different things.

Things that cannot both be.

I have desired the heavenlies.

I have played in the gutters.

I can see no way around myself.

I am at the end of myself.

I can see no way.

It is impossible.

Help me!

Somebody, please.

If it is possible, it has to be from someone and somewhere else.

“But it's always darkest before the dawn”

The conditions that make possible the abandonment of guilt first require guilt to be impressed to its fullest. True repentance comes at the cost of being exposed to that which is really wrong. Prior to that, we are merely managing behavior and playing at progress all the while perishing under performance.

If by grace God grants us a vision of ourselves without Him, our response is to believe for the first time how fully our depravity distances us from Him. Grace teaches our heart to fear.

But, grace, our fear, relieves.

“And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back”

We were made to dance.

More often than not we dance with the devil.

When we want to dance with Deity, the devil demurs.

We learn to dance with a devil on our back.

It does not look like the dancing we’d like to do, but it’s better than desisting from dancing.

In Christ we can be free from the devil’s damning accusations.

Jesus cuts off the horse we have been dragging around.

In Christ we can dance before Him: joyfully and freely.

Jesus sets our feet to do that which they were created.

“Looking for heaven, found the devil in me”

When I look to who I want to be, I see who I am.

When I look to where I want to go, I see where I’ve been.

When I look to Who is where I want to go, I see that I do not belong there with Him.

The problem is finally centralized. It is not just that I have a devil on my back that is my greatest deterrent. It is that the devil is in me. It’s not that evil has held me back. It’s that I am evil. It is the world, the flesh, and the Devil that oppose me and separate me from God. It is only God who can make up that distance.

It is only by God’s gift of Jesus that I may dance and do so with delight.