The Outcome

Tim Timmons' “The Outcome” is a worship song about giving up control. It begins with a confession from someone who has been trying to hold life together by his own power, and it says he is tired, so tired.

The turn comes in the lines “Unless you build a house, unless you build a home, unless you lead the way, it's all in vain.” Those words draw on a well-known psalm and let the listener hear that effort alone cannot carry a family or a future. The singer then admits it is not his place to hold the way or to be afraid. The chorus is a simple prayer, I surrender the outcome, and the song asks to live the life God has put inside until his work is done. The next lines describe what surrender allows. If I let you lead and I learn to follow, I can trust that you see everything that I don't. The repeated “in vain” keeps the point close, and the plain melody leaves room for a congregation to take the words as their own. It is a good fit for a moment of prayer after a sermon, a time of waiting on a decision or a season when the plan has not worked. The song asks for trust without promising an easy ending.

Unless the Lord builds the house is Psalm 127:1. God's purpose prevailing is Proverbs 19:21, and committing your way to him is Psalm 37:5.