You probably know, that the most popular country song, in the late summer of 2023, is only available on the Internet. You can’t hear it on the radio, apparently.

“Rich Men North of Richmond” is a protest song about social conditions and the economy. It was sung by an unknown musician, and almost immediately became the most popular song in the United States. Apparently, it is the most popular song in any genre, not just country. All the most popular music superstars were displaced by this surprise. Millions of people love this song:

• READ: Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Is the Number One Song in the Country

If you haven’t heard the song:

This is country music, and it is easy to understand. I think you should form your own opinion about this music, and I won’t try to shape your thinking. The message is clear enough.

This is a radical event. A huge music industry, worth billions of dollars, had to make room for an unknown high school dropout. By ‘step back’, I mean that one song has claimed a massive market share, for days, and now for weeks.

In the music industry, this is a financial and corporate earthquake. It does not fit the narrative.

So, whatever you think of this song, you should think about it. Something is happening, and the message is more than political; this radical event tells us something about our spiritual lives.

Imagine a message that connects with millions of people, but one that the controlling powers or industry does not approve. The people who want to be popular, and assume that they are, must step back for a while. We the people are following a different direction from the official and approved narrative.

Probably, the music industry will return to its normal patterns, in a few weeks. The lesson that we should all learn might be forgotten.

Here’s a lesson; you might be right. At least, your ideas might be more popular than you know. The words in the Bible are “Be not afraid of their faces.” (Jeremiah 1:8)

In that story, a man named Jeremiah was commissioned by God to speak an unpopular message. The message was from God to people who rejected God and went a different way in their lives. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, and his audience already had a narrative, from rich and powerful people. ‘Richmond’ was not mentioned, but rich men did not want Jeremiah’s message from God.

When the city of Jerusalem was under siege, and people were starving, the King became very angry with Jeremiah and his message.

At the King’s order, Jeremiah was tossed into a cistern; like a room carved into rock, for water storage. Jeremiah did not drown, the cistern was mostly dry, but he sank into the mud and waited to die a miserable death. Someone lowered food to him, every day, and somehow he survived. When Jerusalem surrendered, he was treated with some respect by the conquering army.

It’s a long story, but my point is that God had a message for the people, and Jeremiah had to get past his fear of “their faces” to deliver the message. In history, he is one of the great heroes of the Jewish and Christian religions. The book of “Jeremiah” is one of the largest in the Bible.

“Don’t fear their faces”: There is more happening here than you know.

I’m writing as a Christian, and I’m sure we need to know our own spiritual condition, to start. Then, we need to find the God who made us.

It’s easy to say ‘Yes and Yes’ to that.

What we easily miss, is our Jeremiah call. If we have found spiritual truth, we should know that other people need to know that truth, in their lives. But, if we dare to speak out, we will contradict the official narrative, and we might have a Jeremiah experience.

In another part of the Bible, Jesus told us:

“Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

That Jeremiah experience is normal for everyone who follows God. There is a lesson in that country song. We have something to say, and other people want to hear. Between us and them, are the power blocs of this world, who don’t appreciate prophets with a different narrative. Speaking for God will not make us popular with some people.

This is a lesson we should learn.

It seems that some people in the South Pacific have learned this lesson. This song is from people who live in the Pacific nation of Tonga: