What "How Can It Be" means
The question is not rhetorical. When Lauren Daigle's song asks "how can it be," it is standing inside the same astonishment that drove Charles Wesley to write "And Can It Be" centuries ago. The theological address is identical across time: the grace that reaches into darkness and produces actual new life is bewildering to the person who has received it, not abstractly but personally.
In C major at 78 BPM, the song moves at a pace that allows lyrical weight to land before the next phrase arrives. The tempo is deliberate without being slow, creating space for the wonder in the lyrics to register. The female key of A is warm and accessible across the voice ranges most likely to carry this song into congregational use.
Second Corinthians 5:17 is the doctrinal center: "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here." Paul does not say improvement has occurred. He says the category of old has been replaced by the category of new. Ezekiel 36:26 had anticipated exactly this: a heart of stone replaced by a heart of flesh. Not reformed, not motivated to do better. Replaced. Isaiah 61:3 gives the song its imagery of beauty replacing ashes, a garment of praise in place of a spirit of despair. The transformation described is not aspirational. It is presented as already accomplished, which is why the song's question is one of wonder rather than doubt.
What this song does in a room
Somewhere in the third or fourth line, congregants who have experienced what the song describes tend to move from singing along to singing from inside. The question "how can it be" is one they have asked themselves in quieter moments, often alone, often late.
The song gives that interior question a communal expression. Many people carry the weight of the grace they have received without a language for the astonishment. This song provides the language, and the room often responds by inhabiting the wonder together rather than simply observing it.
Building songs of this structure, beginning sparse and expanding, also mirror the experience they describe. The new creation does not arrive all at once. It builds. The arrangement reflects the theology, and congregations who stay with that arc find themselves somewhere different at the end than where they started. There is something in the musical shape itself that tells the theological story, which is why leading this song well means trusting the structure and not hurrying toward the full arrangement. There is something in the musical shape itself that tells the theological story, which is why leading this song well means trusting the structure and not hurrying toward the full arrangement.
What this song is saying about God
God does not improve people. God remakes them. That is the radical claim the song is singing, and it has pastoral consequence for every person in the room who is still waiting to feel like their old self is actually gone.
Romans 6:14 grounds it: sin shall not be master, because the relationship to sin has been redefined by grace. The old master no longer has legal claim. Psalm 40:2 adds the experiential dimension: lifted from the slimy pit, feet set on a rock. The transformation is not only ontological but felt, even if the feeling is intermittent.
The song's primary theological contribution is restoring wonder as the appropriate response to what God has done. In seasons when worship becomes routine, this song interrupts the routine with a question that resists routine: how can this possibly be true for someone like me? That question is not the beginning of doubt; it is the beginning of real faith. The song treats it as such. That question is not the beginning of doubt; it is the beginning of real faith. The song treats it as such.
Scriptural backbone
Second Corinthians 5:17 provides the "new creation" declaration that centers the song's theology. Ezekiel 36:26 gives the Old Testament anticipation of heart transformation, the promise that the covenant God himself would do the replacing. Romans 6:14 grounds the freedom from sin's mastery in the grace relationship. Isaiah 61:3 supplies the beauty-for-ashes exchange. Psalm 40:2 adds the experiential language of being lifted from the pit and set on solid ground.
How to use it in a service
Baptism services are one of the most natural placements, where the water makes visible what the song declares. Salvation celebration moments, new year services, and response songs following a message on new creation or grace all draw this song into its proper use.
The building structure invites the congregation to inhabit the wonder alongside the singer rather than watching from a distance. Do not rush to the full-band moment. Let the sparse beginning do its work, and trust that the congregation will follow the building arc if the leader stays intentional about the pace.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The song's power depends on the question feeling real in the room. A leader who sings "how can it be" as a performance moment undercuts the song entirely. Lead from a place of real astonishment at the grace described, not from a place of polished execution.
Watch for the bridge landing too heavy too soon. The declarations in the bridge should arrive with full-band energy, but the follow-on quieter iteration of the chorus needs room to breathe. That contrast is where the theological content settles into the congregation and stays there.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Begin with piano alone or piano and acoustic guitar. The congregation should feel the song begin before the full band is present. Add instruments with intention; each addition should feel like an expansion of the song's declaration, not simply more sound. Keep the tempo consistent at 78 BPM throughout. Dragging toward a ballad changes the emotional register in a way that works against the building arc. The bridge arrival with full band should feel earned, not sudden. Sound team: at the full-band moments, keep vocals above everything. The words are carrying the weight; the instruments are supporting them. The ratio matters at every point in the dynamic curve. For vocalists, this is a song where restraint on the verses earns the right to the fuller expression in the bridge. Hold something back early so the declaration has somewhere to go.