Dustin Kensrue is known as the front man for the alternative rock band Thrice. The group built a following of fans through eight albums and countless tours. During Thrice's hiatus, Kensrue, who had often included theological concepts in his songs, accepted a Worship Director position at Mars Hill Church. He never intended to be a worship pastor. 

With that context, his album The Water and the Blood was made. I'm a fan of emotional rock and this album is loaded with that type of song both for the Church, and also for reflective times of personal worship and adoration. Dustin's biblically inspired lyrics are one of the highlights for me. I recommend the album for alternative rock fans looking for inspirational songs. One of the songs that's less corporate worship and more personal is "It's Not Enough." I had the chance to speak with Dustin about the song.

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

This song is a bit unique on the album, in that it wasn't written with the mindset of functioning really well as a corporate worship song. That doesn't preclude it from being a worshipful song. It is a song that I've had floating around in my head for the last couple of years.

The basic chorus and melody and the concept of the song is building layer upon layer of these things that we put stock in that our heart goes out to and grabs hold of as a means of trying to fill deep desires. Ultimately, those things are not satisfying. Originally I was going to record the song with my band Thrice. It wasn't coming together at the time and I never finished the song until this album.

What I start from and progress to in the song is that although family, love and even money are in and of themselves good things, they will never be enough. The song progresses to the more destructive things. Sometimes our sins can seem mild when they are contained by external forces, and we are kept in place by what society expects of us. I think sometimes people are hearing an answer to a question they haven't formed yet. They hear that the answer is Jesus, but they haven't in their souls realized that was the question they need to be asking. My hope is that this song can stir that question in people.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (The Voice): "What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun; the future only repeats the past."

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (NLT): "But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless--like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere."

Ecclesiastes 8:17 (The Voice): "I saw all the works and ways of God, and it became clear to me that no one is able to grasp fully this mystery called life. Try as we might, we cannot discover what has been done under the sun. Even if the wise claim to know, they really haven't discovered it."

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (The Voice): "I turned and witnessed something else under the sun: the race does not always go to the swift, the battle is not always won by the strong, bread does not always fill the table of the wise, wealth does not always accrue to the skillful, and favor is not always granted to the knowledgeable; but time and misfortune happen to them all."
 
Hebrews 13:14 (NLT): "For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come."

What is the takeaway message?

The song takes a cue and gives a nod to Ecclesiastes. It is one of the key places in the Bible which addresses this topic. One of the takeaway messages of the song is that in the ways we listen to and consume music, it can be more repetitive. Over time, songs can influence us in a different way that just reading something or hearing about it. Taking that concept and really trying to distill it into these three or four minutes can be helpful in hopefully having people confront the ways they consciously and unconsciously seek out meaning and purpose in these places where it isn't found. Not in an ultimate sense.

The way we shot the music video is meant to be very confrontational. You can't escape this and need to deal with it. You can assess it in your own heart and your own life the ways that you are doing this. People tend to put their hopes in things and think once this happens or once they have something, things will be better. What's intriguing about Ecclesiastes is that it is written by someone who has done all these things we work towards, and he tells us that is isn't satisfying. We are trying to fill a hole that can't be filled by any of these things.

A big part of this song is that there is a small hint but not a definitive answer to the questions, which is purposeful. Especially artists who are Christians across a wide variety of mediums can be too eager at times to spill out answers. For a second they invite people to look for answers, and they give it to them. That can be less effective.

To me the most effective approach to the rhythms of life is to approach the weight of this issue and push the listener who is asking these questions to feel the weight of the questions and realize that they don't have the answer. They don't live as though they truly understand the answer to their questions. That's part of the bigger body of either the rest of the songs on this album or the other songs I've written.

There's enough I've written on this album where the Truth of the Gospel is fleshed out in a variety of ways. I really like that this song ends in a heavy place and doesn't have this lift where it spells it all out for you. I hope this song is a catalyst to shake people, whether they are Christian or not, out of modes of functioning in ways where we haven't examined the ends of what we are pursuing and get us out of that rut.

Lyrics:
Though all the wealth of men was mine to squander
And towers of ivory rose beneath my feet
Were palaces of pleasure mine to wander
The sum of it would leave me incomplete

Though every soul would hold my name in honor
And truest love was always by my side
My praises sung by grateful sons and daughters
My soul would never still be satisfied

It's not enough, it's not enough
I could walk the world forever
Till my shoes were filled with blood
It's not enough, it's not enough

Though I could live for all to lift them higher
Or spend the centuries seeking light within
Though I indulged my every dark desire
Exhausting every avenue of sin

It's not enough, it's not enough
I could walk the world forever
Till my shoes were filled with blood
It's not enough, it's not enough
I could right all wrongs, or ravage
Everything beneath the sun
It's not enough, it's not enough

To make me whole
It's not enough, it never was
Awake my soul
It's not enough, it never was

It's not enough, it's not enough
I could walk the world forever
Till my shoes were filled with blood
It's not enough, it's not enough
I could right all wrongs, or ravage
Everything beneath the sun
It's not enough, it's not enough
Though all would bow to me 
Till I could drink my fill of fear and love
It's not enough, it's not enough

This poetic ballad recognizes the inadequacy of our efforts in this world to satisfy ourselves. The song builds as it progresses with Kensrue confessing, "Though I indulged my every dark desire, exhausting every avenue of sin, It's not enough, it's not enough." That message is relatable to anyone, and is a reminder that "everything beneath the sun, it's not enough."

The song represents a similar viewpoint to Solomon in writing Ecclesiastes, as he looks back on everything God had blessed him with, and although he had riches and what this world defines as success, he recognized that it was all meaningless. He had it all, wealth, prosperity, fame, power and wisdom but he recognized that material accomplishments meant nothing without God. A lot of the world today is striving for those same "meaningless" things which Solomon compared to "chasing the wind" nine times in Ecclesiastes. 

"It's Not Enough" is one of those moments on the album where I start off by contemplating the lyrics and then I start worshiping as the song progresses. After contemplating the questions that the song asks in my own life, I reach the same conclusion that it's not enough and join Dustin in asking God "to make me whole," and "awake my soul." 

That's the beauty of this song and album is that in addition to acknowledging the ways we try to fill our lives with meaningless endeavors, like chasing the wind, the conclusion of The Water and the Blood is how our relationship with God and whether we've chosen Jesus to be our Lord and Savior is the ultimate answer to life's quest for meaning. That's a great message to contemplate as we approach Easter. As St. Augustine put it so perfectly, "our hearts are restless until they rest in You." Amen.

(Watch the music video here.)