"So I pray for favour like Esther
I need your strength to handle the pressure
I know there will be sacrifice
But that’s the price
...
I can see the writing on the wall
But I cannot ignore this war
At the end of it all
Who am I living for?"
- From Who Am I Living For by Katy Perry
The racy and often sexed up Katy Perry pulls out the Old Testament heroine Esther as a role model. Wow! What’s going down here? Well, we shouldn’t be surprised at Perry’s knowledge of all things Biblical. This “bad” girl of pop was brought up in the home of a pastor and started her career singing Christian songs. Perry has spoken about how her mid teen self would be horrified by who she is now and has said that this is one of her most introspective songs, wrestling with her past and her present and her future. There is no doubt that this is a song in turmoil. There is a sense of call, maybe to fight for God. There is an awareness of the cost of that call. There is also an omnipresence of flames and sense of lightning striking judgement. Does Perry see herself tossed about in the seas in between. Or is she hoping to be a redeeming factor in the world she now inhabits?
Esther is an interesting character for Perry to turn to. God is never mentioned in the book named after Esther but she saves God’s people. The sense is that, though not named, God is sovereign and all around the story. Is that what Perry wishes for herself? Is this how Katy Perry sees herself; God being no longer part of the conversation around her but no less a presence of the love and destiny surrounding her?
Whatever the seas or the turmoil, like Dylan’s You’ve Gotta Serve Somebody, it is a question we all have to ask; who am I living for?
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