We have all heard that Beyonce lip-synced the National Anthem at the inauguration of President Obama. She has admitted it nationally. Stepping up to the microphone before the Super Bowl she proved to the world what we already knew: she can sing. After belting out the national anthem she reassured the press that she would, in fact, sing it live for the Super Bowl. She had prerecorded the song before the event and chose to play the track and sing along. She sang the national anthem. She sang it in the recording studio and sang it live with herself at the inauguration. No one denies she sang the song. People have a problem , or it was a severely slow news day, with the fact that she used her prerecording.
Before bouncing Beyoncé for the issue during the inauguration, please consider something: we all need help sometimes. Every last one of us need help sometimes. The problem is that we too often refuse to ask for help. Our pride gets the better of us and we plow through the problem only to make it more of a struggle. We come down hard on Beyoncé because she did what we would not have done. She asked for help. She did not steal from others and use someone else’s voice like Milli Vanilli. She did the work. She put in the time. She sang the song. What exactly did she do wrong?
She recognized her weakness. This has become the main problem of our culture. We do not admit our weaknesses. We try to mask them. We cover them up with machismo and pride. There is nothing wrong with recognizing your weakness. God said of Adam that it was not good for him to be alone. Adam could not handle it all by himself. You cannot handle everything. You need help.
She proactively sought help. All music is prerecorded before such an event in case of failures and issues. She chose to use the track she created while singing along. Just because we know we have a weakness does not mean we automatically ask for help. I know that I cannot pull tree and haul things like I used to, but it does not mean I ask for help. I am a grown man. Why can’t I do this by myself? I wouldn’t want to bother other people. The problem with refusing to use help is that I can hurt myself. I also lose out on the relational bond of being with other people. I also rob someone else of a blessing for helping. All of this is done because my pride does not allow me to ask for the help I know I need.
She thought of someone else. In the interview, Beyoncé noted that this day was about the President and not herself. She wanted a presentation worthy of the event. So often, we only look to ourselves. We do things beyond our abilities because we want the glory and award. How often do we fail at it? How often do we actually pull it off? If you do, have you left a wake of dead behind you? Have you forsaken your family because you only thought of yourself? The extra time and effort it took to go it alone takes its toll in ways we do not immediately see.
Before we bounce Beyoncé, let’s take a moment to consider that Jesus created the church (body of believers) to work together using a variety of gifts to accomplish a unified task. Work smarter, not harder.
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