Toby Mac in “Tonight” challenges christians about how we try to do things on our own, he then talks about how we must truly accept Jesus into our lives to really live.
Toby mac starts the song by explaining the dilemma that faces our christian society today. Toby Mac in the song “Tonight” rocks it up with a taste of rock, like phil Keaggy, rap from Eminem, and some electric mixed in like the backstreet boys to sing a message for God’s people. We at times try to “go it alone” (line 2) we try to succeed without God. This points to the idea that there is no one to help us and we are isolated. But the fact is that we do this to ourselves. All we have to do is turn around and God is there. When we go alone Toby says “We get shut down, Locked up and held captive in the clutches of my down” (line 2-3). When we try to do things on our own we can’t succeed, And the thing that we tried to do on our own now hold us back. He describes this feeling of being trapped as having vertigo. Vertigo if you know what it is, is a sickness that makes you feel as if you are making progress or moving forward when you are really stationary. It helps to know the meaning of the disease to understand what Toby meant. He was using the word as a metaphor to describe the way that he felt. Also it helps to know that Toby grew up in a Christian home but he did not accept Christ until later in his life.The problem is that we try to do things on our own, next Toby sings about the solution.
At the end of the song and in the chorus Toby address the answer to the problem that he first identifies. His solution is that we need God through the hard times and the happy times. He is always with us. Also because this is a Christian song the underlying theme is that God is the answer. Toby says that God is always with us and that his love is “like a rhythm no dam could hold, bein’ drivin by a source overflowin our souls”(line 43 and 44). This shows that God is our solution because his love is so great. He can solve our problems and heal our pain.
From analyzing this song I can conclude Toby Mac in “Tonight” challenges christians about how we can get lost on our own and lose our way, he also states the solution how we must truly accept Jesus into our lives to really live. I also believe that the meaning of the song was that we need to accept Jesus “right here right now”(line 18) for real. We need him because once Jesus has entered into our lives we will never be the same.