Is God’s Love Reckless? A Long Overdue and Mostly Superfluous Review of Cory Asbury’s Smash Hit ‘Reckless Love’

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

It had to be done.

I simply could not claim to write a theological worship song review blog without confronting the greatest worship controversy of our age: Is God’s love reckless? I doubt our pal Cory knew what a can of worms he was opening when he and his coauthors penned “Reckless Love,” but now that I’ve seen his TikToks, I’m pretty sure he eats cans of worms for breakfast and would gladly do it all over again.

So: “Reckless Love.” Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, and Ran Jackson. Biblical or heretical? Should you sing it in church or walk out as soon as you hear that electric guitar lead line? Will it worship?? Here goes.

Focus

The two themes of this song are God’s relentless love and the humble response of the undeserving recipient. I wouldn’t call this song self-centered, but it is very focused on the love relationship between the individual and the Lord.

What are the main themes of the song? Is it God-centered or me-centered? How does it address God?

Lyric Analysis

THE DEEPLY THEOLOGICAL VERSES
Verse 1 draws together ideas from Zephaniah 3:17, Genesis 2:7, Psalm 139:13-16, and Jeremiah 1:5. God knows us before we are born, even before we are conceived. He gives us life, delights in us, sings over us! Even before we exist, our Father is drawing us into his story.

If the first verse is about God loving us before we are even born, verse 2 is about his love for us before we come to know and love Jesus. Romans 5:8-10 and Ephesians 2:1-5 teach us that before we believed, we were dead in our sins, alienated from the life of God, enslaved both by our own passions and oppressive demonic forces, living as God’s enemies. But even while we were in this state, Christ died to reconcile us to God!

When the world or our own fears tell us we are worthless, Jesus says that he gave the very highest price to buy us back from slavery: himself. (Titus 2:14)

THE UNRELENTING BRIDGE
I’m going out of order. Sorry. 🤷 In the bridge, Jesus be climbing up walls, kicking down mountains, and lighting up shadows to come after me. Or something like that.

Jesus’ divine nature as the Light of the World is a recurring theme in Scripture. John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” This is part of a longer description of Christ’s incarnation, his humble entry into the world of flesh to make God known to us and invite us into his family. So he lights up shadows in pursuit of us. John also ties Jesus’ identity as the Light to his identity as the Truth. As love casts out fear (1 Jn 4:18), so truth casts out lies (Eph 4:25), and Jesus’ light tears down the lies that would prevent us from being drawn into his family.

I can’t think of any specific examples of Jesus climbing a mountain to reach us, but I take this as a metaphor for the many obstacles he overcame in order to extend his love to us, especially the cross and the humiliating death he willingly endured there (Heb 12:2, Ph 2:8). Ephesians 2:13-15 tells us that he tore down the walls between people (hostility) and between humanity and God (the Law) in his own flesh on the cross.

I think the bridge comes off a little bit Calvinist, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your tradition and beliefs. The idea of God kicking down every wall to come after me does feel a bit like the doctrine of irresistible grace, though it stops short of fully taking that position.

THE RECKLESS CHORUS
While the title of this song is indeed “Reckless Love,” “reckless” is just one of many adjectives applied to God’s love here in the chorus. I don’t even think it’s the most important one. The best song titles highlight what is unique about a song, not necessarily the most important point the song makes. There are lots of songs about how God’s love is overwhelming and unending, but this is the first mainstream worship hit to make use of the word “reckless,” and it certainly makes a splash.

Especially when taken together with the verses and bridge, this chorus is about how God’s love will overcome every obstacle to pursue us wherever we are. It characterizes the love God displays throughout Jesus’ parables in Luke 15. The father of the Prodigal Son exposes himself to ridicule by running out to meet his son. The son is overwhelmed. A woman spends costly oil and crawls around her house to find her lost coin. She won’t quit until it’s found. And (as specifically referenced in the song), the shepherd who loses one sheep abandons his 99 others in pursuit of the one missing. Reckless behavior perhaps? These parables show the intense love of God the Father for those who are lost from him.

Referring to the worshiper, this song says, “I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away.” Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches us that God’s grace and salvation (inextricably tied to his love) are free gifts, not anything we could earn. “Deserve” is a tricky word, and I think there is a sense in which we deserve God’s love and a sense in which we don’t. Fortunately, this line is explained in verse 2: “When I was your foe, still your love fought for me.” Our natural state apart from God is to be enslaved in our sin, and our only earned or deserved relationship to him is that of an enemy. Still, God extends his love to us. He has made us in his image, called us into his family, and shown our inestimable worth to him through his sacrifice on the cross.

BUT IS IT RECKLESS THOUGH???
As Pilate asks, “What is truth” (Jn 18:38) so we must ask, “What is reckless?” Merriam-Webster gives two definitions, but one of them is a two-parter, so let’s call it three:

  1. Marked by a lack of proper caution
  2. Careless of consequences
  3. Irresponsible

I think when people get hung up on this word in this song, they are primarily thinking of definition #3. God is certainly not irresponsible. Jesus isn’t a reckless driver, a kid who didn’t do his homework, or a gambling addict who lost it all on the ponies and can’t feed his family. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that no reasonable person, Christian or otherwise, would hear the words of this song and think that’s the kind of recklessness the author intends to ascribe to our Lord.

There’s a case to be made for #1, since a constant criticism the Pharisees had for Jesus was that he didn’t show proper caution in associating with sinners, healing on the Sabbath, and acting like he had authority to forgive sins.

But I think the definition closest to Cory, Caleb, and Ran’s meaning here is #2. God knew exactly what the consequences of pursuing us to the cross with his love would be, and he didn’t care. He did it anyway. If I see my daughter run out in front of a train, and I leap onto the tracks to shove her out of the way, no one would criticize the preacher at my funeral for calling that a reckless act of love. So it seems perfectly appropriate to me to call Christ’s incarnation and ultimate sacrifice acts of reckless love.

“But Jason!” you say, “‘Recklessness’ is still bad! We mustn’t tarnish God’s reputation with words bearing negative connotations!”

My response is that the Bible itself uses negative words and exaggeration for effect, even when describing God! God loves Jacob and hates Esau (Rm 9:13). Jesus tells us that we have to hate our mothers, fathers, spouses, children, and our own lives to be his disciples (Lk 14:26). In 1 Corinthians 1:25, Paul has the audacity to say, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” God foolish and weak? Blasphemy!

The same understanding of poetic language and figures of speech that allows us to make sense of these passages also enables us to call God’s love reckless without distorting the truth of his wisdom and foresight.

So, yes! God’s love is reckless. And, no! God’s love isn’t exactly reckless. But the word has great poetic value in the unique and poignant way it captures Christ’s willing self-sacrifice.

(For a counterpoint to my view, John Piper raises some concerns about this word, even while rejoicing in how Calvinistic many of the lyrics are. He brings up the theology of open theism in which God chooses not to know what all of our individual choices will be and suggests that the word “reckless” implies this theology. I think that’s a huge leap.)

Accessibility

The only people who misinterpret this song are established Christians who have a theological objection to calling God’s love reckless. The language is quite transparent except for the phrase “leaves the 99,” which means nothing unless you’re familiar with the parable it refers to.

To be honest, this song is a little tricky to sing, mostly due to rhythm and prosody. The range is an octave+5, which is a little wide but also typical for contemporary worship. In practice, I have found that congregations are more than happy to learn the melody and belt this song out. (And at this point, everyone probably knows it already.)

Music

One thing I love about this song is its musical versatility. You can sing it with a worship band, an orchestra, or just a piano. For example, the iconic opening lead line works great on almost any instrument. The dynamics and chord progression follow the typical worship song patterns, but they’re classic for a reason. There’s a good build through the bridge, and the chorus works great loud and soft.

The thing that sets this song apart musically is the way dotted eighth note melody of the chorus and lead line sits on top of the 6/8 beat. The melody feels like it’s in 4/4 even though it’s not, and this offers some really cool musical tension that pulls you forward through the song. It also offers a challenge for drummers! The only solution I have is to encourage your musicians to listen to this song on repeat for a while until they really internalize the underlying beat and the main melody and how they fit together.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

This one works best in the middle of a worship service. It is intimate and communicates both the truth of God’s love to us and our humble and needy (in a good way!) response to him.

It would be super cool to use this song immediately following a reading or dramatic presentation of any of the Luke 15 parables.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Of course it will! This is a powerful worship anthem that has expressed the love of God in a fresh way to a whole generation. It’s accessible, deep, mostly singable, and teaches biblical truth. I am thoroughly convinced that no one has ever learned any bad theology from this song, and I remain in awe at the reckless love of our Savior.

Image by Vital Sinkevich on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Exploring ‘Long Live the King’: A Worship Analysis

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

“Long Live the King,” written by Gabriel Wilson, Matt Gilman, and Nate Lapeer, seized my attention when it came out two years ago. Its vivid and theological description of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation brought me to tears in my car. It impressed the majesty and glory of Christ on my heart and imagination in a way that few songs have.

I learned it, practiced it, and was all geared up to use it for Easter 2023! Unfortunately, the third verse weirded me out. My church doesn’t really teach that Jesus descended into hell while he was in the grave, and I thought that event, the Harrowing of Hell, is what this verse was referring to. I chickened out, and we haven’t used it for church. But now I’m ready to give “Long Live the King” another look! What is that funky third verse about, is it biblical, and will it worship? Let’s check it out!

Focus

“Long Live the King” is an acclamation of Christ. It explores his suffering, death, resurrection, and glorification and hails him as king in each context.

It calls Jesus by name and uses lots of titles for him including Anointed One, Emmanuel, and Perfect Lamb. It also refers to the Holy Spirit’s role in Jesus’ resurrection. The language in “Long Live the King” is both personal and corporate; each chorus talks about lifting my hands, but the verses speak of our Messiah, our Redeemer, our victory.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES 1 & 2
These verses are sung back-to-back and recount the same events from two different perspectives.

Verse 1 is about the physical events of Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial. It picks out several significant events from John 19, so we’ll start with the crown of thorns. The writers do something really cool here by saying, “There in crown of thorn and thistle.” At first, I thought this was just a poetic liberty. After all, the crown in the Gospels only had thorns. No thistles to be seen. But where do we find thorns and thistles together in the Bible? Genesis 3:18 says of the ground, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Adam’s work is made painful and dangerous because of sin. In his death, Jesus is taking Adam’s curse upon his own head. This is something verse 2 makes explicit.

The rest of the verse recounts more familiar details: the sign reading “King of the Jews,” Jesus’ blood shed on the cross, the crimson river flowing from his pierced side, darkness falling at his death, the burial clothes, and Jesus’ interment in a tomb. This verse invites us to contemplate Christ’s suffering and humiliation. When we do, we find both grief and gratitude welling up within us.

Verse 2 deals with the spiritual realities of Christ’s work on the cross. The first line echoes the metaphor of Adam’s thorns and thistles: every curse is laid upon Christ. He bears the burden for us. He wears our sin like the robe of shame the soldiers placed on him.

Calling Jesus the “perfect Lamb led to the slaughter” recalls the words of Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” It also looks forward to Revelation 5:5-6, where John is told to look for the Lion, but instead finds the slain Lamb standing. This song will show us both Jesus’ humble sacrifice as a lamb and his triumphant power as a lion.

In the Old Testament, a ransom was the price paid to save someone’s life, either from slavery or from the just punishment for a crime they had committed. This is what Christ has done for us. At the moment of his death, Jesus tore the temple veil in two (Lk 23:44-46). This was the curtain that sealed off the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence rested. It represented the great divide between God and man, the rift between our sinfulness and his holiness. Christ’s death was a great victory because he accomplished all this, defeating sin and darkness, freeing us from our enslavement to death, and bringing us safely into God’s holy presence. Revelation 12:11 teaches us that the victory of the saints is in the blood of the Lamb.

LONG LIVE THE KING
There is no single chorus in this song. Instead, each chorus has its own words that develop what was discussed in the preceding verse. The one commonality is the repeated titular phrase: “Long live the King!”

People have been wishing long life to their rulers for millennia. “Long live the king” was the shout of the people when Samuel anointed Saul and proclaimed him king (1 Sam 10:24). Daniel even addresses King Darius, a pagan ruler, this way (Dan 6:21). To say “long live the king” is to express loyalty and submission to a ruler. It’s a statement of belief that they are the rightful and beneficial sovereign. It is an endorsement of their justice and righteousness.

In Western culture, “long live the king” is often part of the longer phrase “The king is dead, long live the king!” Traditionally, this is the announcement of the death of the former ruler and the succession of the new one. In the context of Jesus’ death, it means something completely different! It is in his dying that he is crowned and exalted.

How appropriate, then, to proclaim “long live the king” of Christ Jesus, of whom Isaiah says, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore!” (Is 9:7)

CHORUS 1
The first line of this chorus says, “the wrath of God and man now satisfied.” Many people are uncomfortable with songs that mention God’s wrath, or the idea that Jesus satisfies it. They object to the idea that a loving God should have any wrath toward his children and therefore the idea that he should send his Son to absorb such wrath on our behalf. I sympathize with their concerns, but we need to take the problem of human evil seriously if we are going to discuss God’s wrath. How can we look at genocides, murders, rapes, systemic racism, oppression of the poor, and casual acts of violence and not cry out for justice? How can we not cry out for God’s wrath to wash away the wicked? We must also remember that Jesus is not a separate entity from God; he is not merely human. He is God himself. So if one seek to blame God for creating man with our capacity for wickedness or if you think God is unjust to punish evil, remember that he stepped into our suffering and pain and took his own wrath upon himself. (Rom 2:8, Rom 3:23, 2 Cor 5:21, Gal 3:10-13, Isa 53:4-11) I think this is an excellent line because it shows that while God’s wrath is just, it is no longer directed toward us us because of Christ’s atonement. I also love that it draws the wrath of man into the equation. We humans so easily become wroth with one another, but Jesus’ death disarms our anger and violence. Ephesians 2:14 teaches that Christ broke down the dividing walls between people as well as the wall between us and God. In the shadow of the cross, how can we raise a hand against our brother or sister?

The phrase “he paid the price” echoes the early church’s understanding of atonement, called “ransom theory.” (Think Aslan dying to ransom Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.) In the Old Testament, atonement for all the people was made with continual sacrifices. Jesus has made perfect and final atonement once and for all by the sacrifice of his own body and blood (Heb 10:10).

Even sin and sickness must obey Jesus. He healed countless people during his ministry, including casting out demons (Mt 8:16-17). In the story of the paralyzed man in Matthew 9:1-8, he demonstrates his lordship over both. Not only does he forgive all the man’s sins, but he heals his body as evidence of his authority. It is important that we remember that while every sin and sickness must submit to Jesus’ authority, we are not guaranteed individual victory over each sin and sickness in our lifetime. There are sins that will continue to tempt us until we die, and each of us will eventually succumb to sickness. Even the Apostle Paul dealt with his famous “thorn in the flesh,” a persistent ailment of some kind (2 Cor 12:7). We must not take someone’s continued illness or struggle with temptation as evidence of lack of faith or evidence that God is absent.

VERSE 3
This verse is a little confusing because it could refer to a couple different things. It references several Scriptures, but the verses in question are famously hard to understand. We could be talking about the Harrowing of Hell, or we could be speaking more generally about Jesus defeating death.

In ancient Greek thought, Hades was where all the dead went, not only the wicked. It doesn’t carry the same connotations of evil and punishment as the Christian idea of hell. (Side note: Can we all agree to sing “depths of Hades” instead of “bowels of Hades?” I would really rather not say “bowels” in a worship song. 🤢) The trembling in Hades could refer to the twin earthquakes at Christ’s death and resurrection (Mt 27:54, Mt 28:2), or it could refer to death and hell themselves quaking in fear at Christ’s victory. The breath of God descending could refer to the Holy Spirit entering Christ’s tomb to bring him back to life (Rom 8:10-11), or to Jesus entering the realm of the dead to proclaim his Gospel to all the dead (1 Pet 3:18-20).

The triumphal parade seems to be a reference to Ephesians 4:8-9, which says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?).” Rather than a parade of captured enemies, as commonly seen in a Roman triumph or even in Psalm 68:8, Jesus is leading a procession of liberated captives. This procession consists of everyone who will believe in him, past, present, and future.

Either way you interpret it, this verse uses poetic and scriptural language to show the triumph of Jesus over death.

CHORUS 2
Now, instead of a the mockery and pain of a crown of thorns, Jesus, the Son of God, is crowned with many crowns. This line comes from Revelation 19:12 and also the famous hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns.”

Jesus is the light of the world who dispels darkness and defeats death (Jn 8:12, 1 Cor 15:22-26). We would be lost in darkness on our own, but instead we are found in his light.

Another potential source of controversy in this song is the line “the souls of every sinner now redeemed.” The question here is whether this line suggests Christian universalism or universal reconciliation, the belief that all people will be saved, not only those who come to believe in Jesus during their earthly lives. I don’t think this line necessarily teaches that. The line says every sinner is redeemed, not that every sinner is saved. To redeem or ransom someone (see verse 2) means to pay a price for that person’s rescue or liberation. Jesus has paid the price for the redemption of every human being. Some may reject him and flee from him, like Hosea’s redeemed wife left him, but this does not lessen the scope of Christ’s great redemption.

VERSE 4
The Bible doesn’t give us much information about what happened inside Jesus’ tomb. We don’t know all the ins and outs of the trinitarian relationship, but it seems evident that the Holy Spirit played a major role in the Resurrection. Romans 8:10-12 says, “if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Genesis 2:7 says that when God was making the world, Adam became a living creature when the breath of life entered nostrils. So Christ’s resurrection, the breath of life reentering his lifeless body, is the moment when the New Adam inaugurates the New Creation.

The dual image of Christ as Lion and Lamb is found throughout Scripture, but especially Revelation 5:5-6. Jesus has given his life as the sacrificial Lamb and he has triumphed over death as the glorious Lion of Judah. He is alive and glorified!

CHORUS 3
The name Emmanuel means “God with us,” so it’s interesting that the songwriters use this title here, at the height of Jesus’ glorification in heaven. Even when he is so very far above us, so enthroned that the very stars worship him, he is still near to us.

Much as he has exchanged a crown of thorns for many crowns of glory, Jesus has exchanged the mocking robe of the soldiers for one of true rulership. In Revelation 19:11-16, Jesus rides at the head of the armies of heaven wearing a robe dipped in blood and bearing the name “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” His reign and victory are just, faithful, and true. None is more worthy, none is more powerful. This enthronement of the Lion/Lamb King is the event for which all of creation has been longing (Rom 8:18-22). The stars and all of creation erupt in worship, and when we sing this song, we join in with them (Ps 148), declaring “long live the King!”

Accessibility

This song has a lot of words and Scripture references, but it also paints really clear and beautiful mental images that anyone can latch onto. For instance, the final chorus references Revelation 19, Romans 8, and Psalm 148, but you don’t have to know those passages to be able to picture the resurrected King Jesus filling heaven with his presence and taking his rightful place on the throne.

The main concern I have for misinterpretation is that some people might take the line, “every sinner now redeemed” as a statement of universal reconciliation, which most Christian churches do not teach. It’s also possible for people to get hung up on the intricacies of verse 3, but I’m confident that is a tangle that only experienced church people will stumble into, and if anything it will lead them into deeper study of God’s word.

The constant refrain, “Long live the King!” is easy to pick up (though the melody gets kinda funky in the second half of the song). The verses repeat the same melodic material over and over, so I think it will be easy for a congregation to learn and sing. The choruses are a little trickier, but well within the bounds of what is congregational. The melody jumps around quite a bit (slightly more than two octaves 😬), so range may be a concern. Still, the majority of it stays within an octave+2, so I don’t think you’ll lose people except on the very highest and lowest notes.

Music

The music of this song matches the words perfectly. The beginning is somber, then becomes hopeful, driving, and finally triumphant. And man is that ending triumphant! This is one of my very favorite expressions of the glory of the ascended Son of Man, and it has brought me to tears more than once. Having said all that, dynamics are super important in this song. It’s got to start quiet, it’s got to drive hard through the middle build, and it’s got to have a big ending.

The chord structure is another one of my favorite features of this song. It largely uses the chords you expect in worship songs and pop music, but it also throws in a couple minor 5s and flat 6s that somehow open up the tonality to invoke a level of majesty that you just don’t get in your typical G D Em C worship progression.

With those funky chords, the crazy dynamics, and the wide vocal range, this song demands a lot of a worship band, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

I would use this song anywhere in a worship service except for the very end. It unites God’s people with a shared acclamation, it declares the story of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and glorification, and it provides us with an opportunity to respond to that story from our hearts with love, devotion, and awe. So it works well as an opening song, a song of the Word, or a Communion/response song. The tricky part is fitting it into the dynamic or energy level flow of a service, since it starts so quietly and ends huge.

I would resist the temptation to use this one as a closer. The ending is big and powerful and exciting, but it lacks the kind of call-to-action that makes for an effective sending song.

Conclusions

Will it worship? You bet!

I started writing this post several months ago, before schoolwork and life circumstances necessitated taking a break from blogging. Since then we have sung “Long Live the King” a few times in church, beginning on Easter. I found that people were profoundly moved by the song, though it was more difficult than average for a congregant to learn and be able to sing along.

So, if your band is up for a challenge and you don’t mind some challenging lyrics about Jesus defeating hell, go for it! I am confident this song will bless your congregation and facilitate their heartfelt response to the gospel and the glory of Jesus.

Image by Tom Gainor on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Promises or Prosperity? A Biblical Analysis of ‘The Lord Will Provide’

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Zack Shelton introduced me to “The Lord Will Provide” (Brett Younker, Chris Davenport, and Jess Cates) at ICYC last year, and I have to confess a little hesitation toward it in the beginning! Songs about God’s promise to provide for us often feel weird to me. We don’t sing them often in my church, in part because we are concerned about the false promises of the prosperity gospel, and we don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. But after hearing several hundred students belt out their trust in the Lord to this song, my heart softened! And the truth is, God does promise to provide for our needs and answer our prayers.

So the question is: does this song offer us a valuable way to express trust in God and give thanks for his provision without overstepping and adding to his word? In other words, is “The Lord Will Provide” biblical, and will it worship?

Focus

“The Lord Will Provide” (as the title might suggest) is about God’s generosity in providing for our needs. It calls us to seek God’s kingdom and trust him to care for us rather than worrying about getting what we want or need.

This song freely floats between singing to God and singing to one another. It’s mostly personal, using me/my language to describe the relationship between the individual and the Lord, only acknowledging “us” once in the bridge. God is often addressed as You, and we call him God, our Father, and the Lord.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES
Verse 1 says “I don’t have to wonder; I know what You’re doing.” What he’s doing, in this song and in Scripture, is providing for our spiritual and physical needs.

The verses refer to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:26-34. He invites his followers to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The birds don’t save up for winter or retirement, and the flowers don’t know how to sew. If our heavenly Father feeds and clothes them, then we can certainly trust him to take care of us!

One aspect of this story I’ve never considered before is that Jesus chooses living things which have relatively short lifespans for this example. It’s easy to watch a flower sprout, bloom, and fade all in a season. Sparrows (Mt 10:29-30) only live for 2-5 years. God cares for these creatures, but that doesn’t mean they last forever or face no hardship. Indeed, Jesus’ acknowledges our own mortality when he says, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Mt 6:27)

PRE-CHORUSES
Each pre-chorus provides a little opportunity to respond in trust to God’s provision. Instead of worrying, we can look to God’s faithfulness. Instead of chasing more, more, and more, we can recognize that God’s love is what really satisfies us. He doesn’t just provide us with enough; he is enough.

A note about anxiety: Jesus gives firm but gentle correction in v. 34 when he calls the worrier “you of little faith.” When someone is in the pit of anxiety, these words can feel like a harsh rebuke, a command to do better, quit worrying, and just have faith! I have a couple thoughts that I hope will help. First, in vv. 31-32, Jesus defines worrying as behaving like godless Gentiles, constantly pursuing their own food and clothing rather than trusting that our Father knows what we need. Second, the solution isn’t just to have more willpower and stop feeling anxious. The way Jesus tells us to combat anxiety is by seeking his Kingdom. That can mean a lot of different things, but all of them involve focusing a little less on ourselves and a little more on other people. I won’t try to fully explore what seeking the Kingdom means here, but a great place to start is the wider Sermon on the Mount, of which this teaching on worry is but a small part. So Jesus doesn’t just tell us to stop being anxious, he gives us a picture of the kind of Kingdom life that will help us entrust our worries to him (1 Pt 5:7).

CHORUS
The chorus is short, sweet, and repetitious. God our Father has all we need, and we can trust him to provide it for us. Another meaning of “my Father has it” could be in the sense of “God’s got this.” If there’s a situation that seems out of control, these lyrics are a reminder that he’s still in control.

These words could certainly be misapplied. I need $50,000 to pay off my student loans. I need my estranged daughter to forgive me. I need policies to change so my family won’t be deported. I need a cure for this disease I’ve just been diagnosed with. These are all legitimate needs, and doesn’t the Bible say, “ask, and it will be given to you?” (Mt 7:7) This is, of course, one of the oldest questions in the world. If God is powerful and cares about me, why doesn’t he give me what I ask for in prayer? To be sure, sometimes, he does! Sometimes the disease is healed and the finances are provided. If we ask God continually for our daily bread, we find that he continually provides it, and that’s part of what this song is about. But what about when he doesn’t? In those instances, I think Jesus directs away from the God-has-to-give-me-what-I-ask-for mentality and toward trust. The answer isn’t that God doesn’t care, or that I sinned so he won’t hear me, or that I don’t have enough faith. If we look at the next few verses in Matthew 7, Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” And in our main text for this song, he says, “your heavenly Father knows you need them.” We have a God who knows us, and he knows our needs. Even when it doesn’t seem like he’s coming through, he still cares for us and provides for us, and he still has good in store for us.

BRIDGE
We already alluded to this idea: seeking God’s Kingdom is the antidote to anxiety over our own needs. Being focused on loving others and trusting in the generosity of the Father will help us not to be wrapped up in what we think we need. His blessings often look different than we thought they would.

Accessibility

Trusting in God to provide for our needs can go wrong when we fall into two big errors: 1) thinking that he has to give us what we ask for and 2) thinking that when he doesn’t, it’s because he failed or we didn’t have enough faith. Expecting God to always come through the way we think he should is setting ourselves up for disappointment.

“The Lord Will Provide” could be misunderstood in this way, but it offers two correctives. First, the Pre-chorus 2 says that God is enough, and his love will satisfy us. I wish this truth were repeated more throughout the song. Second, it takes our eyes off of our anxiety for our present needs and sets them on God’s Kingdom.

One of the strongest lines in the song is also the most confusing. We’re supposed to seek the Kingdom and its treasures, but what does that mean? I don’t think most people in church really know, and this song doesn’t explain it.

The range of this song is all within an octave! And most of it falls within a 5th! Incredible! The repetitive melodic and rhythmic patterns make it extremely singable and easy to learn. All the bonus points!

Music

“The Lord Will Provide” is in 6/8 with a little bit of swing. It almost forces you to nod your head or sway a little bit. This rhythm draws you in and evokes a sense of steadiness and trust, a perfect match to the lyrics. When the singing starts, the melody paints the same picture. The chorus is insistent with its refrain “my Father has it.” The bridge drives forward, propelling the worshiper forward to seek God’s Kingdom.

This song relies on piano, drums, and bass, adding guitars throughout for more energy. For the most part, I don’t anticipate it being too difficult for beginner/intermediate musicians to play. The drum beat on the bridge is a little offbeat, so it might take some extra practice. The bass guitar does some really cool grooves, but these are not critical and can be omitted as skill requires. The piano lead line at the beginning shouldn’t be hard, but for some reason, it really tripped me up! I especially like having a soprano double the melody for extra power on the bridges.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

“The Lord Will Provide” is most appropriate in the second half of the service. After the Word has been presented, the congregation has the opportunity to respond in trust. The challenge to “seek first the Kingdom” also gives this song a missional thrust appropriate to the Sending.

This song would be especially meaningful paired with a reading of Matthew 6:26-34 or 10:28-30. It would make an excellent response song to any teaching about anxiety, trusting God, his provision, or seeking the Kingdom. We’re introducing it right now during a teaching series on money and possessions, and I think it’s a great thematic fit.

It would be cool to see a worship service composed entirely of the Sermon on the Mount and various songs that express and respond to the ideas there. This song would be one of them.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Every single time! (sorry 🤷‍♂️)

I mentioned my concern about assuming God is going to answer all our prayers exactly how we want, the false promise of the prosperity Gospel. But I think “The Lord Will Provide” combats that misunderstanding effectively. It bases its lyrics heavily on Scripture and says what the Bible says without going a step further. It’s hard to argue with that!

We’re singing “The Lord Will Provide” this Sunday, and I’m confident the congregation will be grab onto it quickly to sing their trust and hope in God and his provision.

Image by Cédric VT on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Sun Up, Sun Down: Is ‘Praise Out’ Biblical?

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

I found “Praise Out” this week in the new releases carousel on CCLI SongSelect (one of my favorite places to find new worship songs!) I wasn’t familiar with Meredith Mauldin or Joel Figueroa, and the album art caught my eye, so I gave it a listen. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since! If nothing else, Mauldin, Figueroa, Brett Lee Miller, and Marie Elizabeth Welch have crafted an effective earworm with this song. But “Praise Out” is more than that! It’s a joyful (and chill) anthem of God’s faithfulness, and it calls us to a life-rhythm of unceasing worship.

So! Let’s check out “Praise Out” to see if it’s biblical and if it will worship.

Focus

This song offers praise to God for his faithfulness as revealed in the cycles of nature.

“Praise Out” is sung directly to the Creator, mostly addressing him as You. If there was any doubt who “You” is (unlikely), the bridge explicitly calls him God.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
I have to confess some grammatical bewilderment regarding the first two lines. I know what it means, I just can’t quite make the words into a grammatical structure that makes sense to me. I keep trying to make “intricate” into a noun so that it can be a complete sentence, but I probably just let them be poetic fragments and quit worrying about it. Sigh. 🤓

In any case, the first half of the verse is about how the intricate details of God’s created world show his character and intent. His character seems evident: creative, wise, brilliant. But what intent is demonstrated here? The next few lines tell us that his intent is to provide for us, and indeed for the whole creation. The seasons continue in their cycle, and the sparrow continues to receive its food from God’s hand. Because he is our provider, we don’t need to be anxious about our needs being met.

The example of the sparrow comes from the Gospels, where Jesus tells his disciples that not even a sparrow falls out of the sky apart from God’s will and knowledge, and that they are much more valuable to him than sparrows (Lk 12:6-7, Mt 10:29-31). In Matthew 6:26-30, Jesus goes even further, reminding his disciples that God dresses the flowers of the field and feeds the birds of the air, so they should relinquish their anxiety and have faith in God’s provision. And Psalm 84:3 says “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.” So the sparrow is an illustration that even the humblest creatures are welcome, cared for, and sheltered in the presence of God.

This verse ends with a commitment to be like the sparrow and trust God rather than anxiously seeking to meet our own needs.

VERSE 2
This verse offers our commitment to praise God both publicly and privately. With David the psalmist and even Christ himself, we tell one another of God’s greatness and we praise him in the congregation (Ps 22:22, Heb 2:12). We also express our intent to praise God quietly and privately, as Jesus encourages his disciples to do (Mt 6:6). This ensures that our worship is not performative or a mere response to social pressure. I think most of us will be challenged by this verse, if we listen to it. We may attend church faithfully but neglect our secret time with the Lord. Or we may pray alone but refrain from participating in the collected praise of God’s people. A healthy life of worship must include both!

The end of the verse returns to our nature metaphor, reminding us of the cycle of seasons and flowers blooming in their time. As the flowers give praise in their blooming, so will we give honor to God when we experience blessing and growth. This line also calls back to verse 1 and its discussion of God’s provision. He cares for sparrow and flower alike, so we know he will provide for us.

CHORUS
The chorus is short and simple, with only 14 words. This simplicity allows us to meditate on the layers of meaning behind the sun, the ways that we can praise God in our lives, and the many ways he’s been faithful.

Sun up, sun down: There’s a lot of depth in this simple image! The Preacher of Ecclesiastes uses the rising and setting sun as an example of the enduring order of God’s creation (Ec 1:4-7). God has established the cycles of day and night, the seasons, the flowing of water, and these things endure, unlike man’s time upon the earth, which is fleeting.

The Psalms use the sun to praise God in at least four ways. First, it represents eternity. As the sun rises and sets without fail, without (apparent) end or beginning, so God’s fame and honor will endure throughout all generations (Ps 72:5, 17). Second, the sun represents the timely cycles of creation. God devised these systems and sustains them. The sun only knows when to set because God has established it in its course (Ps 104:19, 74:16). So, it illustrates God’s power and wisdom in creation. Third, the sun is a source of life and blessing, pointing toward God who is the true source of all life and blessing (Ps 84:11). Finally, in Psalm 148, the psalmist summons the sun itself to give praise to God along with all the angels, stars, sea creatures, mountains, trees, beasts, and peoples. All creation sings (literally and/or metaphorically) the praise of God the Creator.

I’ll keep on singing Your praise out: So, along with the sun and all creation, we offer our continual praise from the time we rise to the time we lay down to sleep.

Faithful right now: My first interpretation of this line is that God is faithful right now. As he’s established the seasons and the day and night, as he’s provided for us and been present in the secret and in the open, so we can trust that he’s present in this very moment, whatever we are doing, experiencing, or facing. I still think that’s the primary meaning of this line, but it could also be a commitment on the part of the worshiper. Because of God’s faithfulness, we commit right now to keep singing his praise faithfully regardless of current circumstance.

BRIDGE
“Glory to God in the highest” is the song of the angels who announce Jesus’ birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:14. Joining them, we offer God not only some praise and glory, but the highest praise and glory.

We return here to the picture from Psalm 148, in which everything in creation sings the praise of its Creator. The New Testament reveals that the Creator is Jesus. Colossians 1:16-17 says of Christ, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” This bridge invites us to revel in the beauty and rightness of everything God has made coming together to worship Jesus. This is the symphony of creation.

This picture should also carry our thoughts forward to the day of Christ’s return. Right now, the creation is broken, longing to participate in the freedom and glory of God’s children (Rm 8:18-24). But one day, the family will be reunited, the creation will be healed, and the song will be perfect, glorious, and unending.

Accessibility

You don’t need an extensive church background or Bible education to understand this song, but you do need to exercise a little bit of abstract thinking. “Sun up, sun down,” is a metaphor, but it’s not a difficult one to find meaning in. The rest of the song is similar: easy to understand with just a little bit of effort, and deepening in meaning the more that you contemplate and connect different sections to Scripture.

The rhythms of this song are repetitive and easy to learn. The melody is the same, though the big skips on the chorus are a little tricky. The range is 8+5 which is wider than I prefer, but pretty typical for current worship music.

Music

One of the refreshing things about this song is its chill, (mostly) acoustic instrumentation. It’s driven by an acoustic guitar with support from bass, piano, and a drum kit played with brushes. There are some prominent synth effects, but they’re bright, sparkly, atmospheric sounds rather than big pads and horns and strings. As the song continues, there’s some additional electric guitar, and a chorus of background vocals that build in near the end. This song works as well with a single piano or guitar as with a whole band, a valuable trait for worship leaders who find themselves in varied circumstances from week to week.

“Praise Out” has excellent dynamics. I love the way the volume pulls back at the first chorus to focus in on the heart of praise that underlies the words. After that, it follows the normal worship song dynamic progression, getting a little louder for verse 2 and chorus 2, and then dropping down to start the bridge quiet and build from there. I really get caught up in the build on this bridge through the end of the song. It’s like the song keeps ascending as the praise continues ascending to God’s throne.

The chord progression is easy to learn and memorize. The rhythms are easy except for the one syncopated lead line that starts in the intro. The synth stuff can be in a backing track (available on Loop Community and Multitracks) or just omitted. In the recording, Joel does some falsetto on the high notes in the chorus so that the first couple times aren’t as loud, but it could easily be transposed so that this isn’t necessary. Overall, I think this song will be very playable for a volunteer worship team.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

“Praise Out” works best as a call to worship. It could also function as a sending song, calling the congregation to live out continual worship, praising God in every moment.

I would pair “Praise Out” with a reading from Matthew 6:26-30 to speak about God’s provision or Psalm 148 to show how all creation offers praise to God. Colossians 1:16-17 would also be a great fit, as it encapsulates the special relationship between Jesus and creation.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Definitely!

“Praise Out” gives us an opportunity to reflect on the constancy of God’s provision, and it does so by referring to nature and its constant cycles in a way that would be at home in the Psalms. It also gives us an opportunity to offer our whole lives to God in praise, reminding us that worship is not just a Sunday-morning song, but a posture of living. The melody is easy to learn, and the words achieve accessibility without sacrificing depth of meaning.

I hope to introduce this song in Sunday worship real soon as it seems especially appropriate for springtime. Maybe you’ll join me!

Image by Olga Filonenko on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Should You Sing ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ at Church? A Worship Song Analysis

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

We don’t see many lament songs in the church these days, particular not in the CCM worship genre. I think the problem is that we are (mostly) comfortable in our lives, and we don’t like to think about suffering or hardship. We do sometimes acknowledge pain or difficult circumstances in our worship songs, but we can’t resist turning that mourning into dancing. We know Easter is coming, so why linger on Good Friday?

There’s some wisdom in this tendency. We do know how the story ends, and that ending is Christ victorious, death and darkness defeated, the church united with God forever in the new creation. We need to remind each other that this future is coming. But sometimes, we can’t or shouldn’t move on from our grief so quickly. I think what’s special about “Hard Fought Hallelujah” is that when it praises God, it does so from the depths of the struggle rather than from a safe, happy vantage point on the other side.

“Hard Fought Hallelujah” is the work of Ben Hastings, Brandon Lake, and Steven Furtick, all veteran songwriters. Lake and Furtick are both associated with Elevation Church, and Hastings is a longtime Hillsong Worship musician. Together, they craft a song that is poignant, honest, and still manages to get stuck in your head.

But is “Hard Fought Hallelujah” biblical, and will it worship? Let’s take a look!

Focus

This song expresses the experience of bringing praise to God in the midst of suffering and struggle.

God’s character is secondary in this song. He’s only addressed in the chorus by the word “hallelujah” and in the line: “God, You’ve been patient/gracious.”

For some, the fact that this song is primarily about the human experience of praise in suffering means that it is too self-centered to be appropriate for corporate worship. I wouldn’t disqualify it on that basis alone, but it’s something to be aware of when you’re planning your worship set.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
This is a common sentiment in worship songs. We don’t always feel like praising God, and that’s when we especially need to. This feels like the attitude of the Sons of Korah in Psalm 42. From the depths of despair and discouragement, the author sings to his own soul, reminding himself of God’s salvation.

PRE-CHORUS 1
There are times when praise, as expressed through the raising of hands, is a natural outpouring of our hearts’ delight in God, and there are times when it takes a great deal of effort, and when we have to discipline ourselves to worship despite not wanting to.

Lake observes, “there are times that it costs,” and he’s right. Romans 12:1 teaches us that true worship is offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Rather than just giving a little bit of time or a little bit of money to the Lord, we are called to offer our whole selves. We feel this cost keenly when we are invited to worship but feel pain, resentment, or anxiety preventing us from coming to God in gratitude and love. Worshiping in the midst of struggle is a hard sacrifice, and one that God cherishes.

Of course, in any congregation, there are many who never sing, and many more whose hands would never go up freely. This song provides a teaching opportunity to encourage people who don’t like participating in music to consider lifting their voices and hands to God despite the discomfort. Participating in this way also shows solidarity with those who are struggling like this song describes.

CHORUS
“I’ll bring my…” The chorus expresses a commitment to praise God no matter the circumstance and no matter the cost. We’re determined to bring praise to God, even though that hallelujah has been beaten up, knocked around, and somehow refined and strengthened by our struggles. This part of the song reminds me of Lake’s “Gratitude,” because it uses the word “hallelujah” to represent not just a song of praise, but a heart that chooses to worship God no matter what.

Hard-fought: This line represents the core idea of the song: sometimes we have to fight to praise God. But is this true, and is it in the Bible? I think it is. There are numerous examples in Scripture of God’s people fighting to praise him. Moses fought Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to go worship God in the wilderness. Paul and Silas praised God in prison, and their chains fell off. Daniel prayed to God daily even though it would land him in a deadly lion’s den. Ephesians 6 teaches us that we are always embroiled in a spiritual struggle against the forces of evil, and praise is a weapon in that fight.

Heart-felt: Jesus taught that worship is in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24). Paul tells us that we ought to sing to God in our hearts (Eph 5:19). While worship is not about feelings, true worship will produce an emotional response in the worshiper. God is good, and he has done great things, and that ought to do something to our hearts.

Been-through-hell: The songwriters are using a loose definition of the word “hell” here. I don’t think any of them would claim to have literally visited the lake of fire. Instead, they’re using it as a description of serious suffering in this life. When you’re in severe emotional or physical pain, you’re all alone, and it feels like God is distant, that’s a picture of hell. This is relative, and we could quibble over what level of suffering really counts as having been through hell.

For many churches, this line will immediately rule out this song for congregational worship. “Hell” is a common profanity in our culture, and this line comes uncomfortably close to casual use of the word. Many Christians have the conviction that the word hell should only be used to describe eternal separation from God.

I also think using “hell” to describe our suffering muddies the waters regarding the nature of our suffering. When Christians experience suffering, we do so with God near at hand, not distant. Later in the song, the authors allude to suffering as a refining fire that improves our faith. This only happens through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. Hell has connotations of finality, wrath, and damnation that I don’t think are appropriate to the kind of pain the authors of this song are describing.

Storm-tossed: I like this image better. The disciples and the apostle Paul experienced perilous storms on the sea. For the disciples, the Lord himself was with them, and he calmed the storm with a word (Mt 8:23-27). When Paul was on the way to Rome, his ship was destroyed in a storm, but God’s hand protected every living soul onboard (Ac 27:13-44). Storms may be terrifying, but our God is greater than the wind and waves, and he is always in control.

Torn-sail: A natural consequence of the storm-tossing. But this line focuses on how our experiences may have beaten us up and left wounds, either emotional or physical.

Story-to-tell: This is great. Praise isn’t just singing hallelujah in church. It’s being willing to tell others what God has done for us and how he’s brought us through our hardships.

Patient/gracious: In the midst of this description of everything our hallelujah has been through, we take a moment to pause and dwell on God’s character. He is patient, perhaps most so when we get angry at him during our suffering. And he is gracious toward us, extending his love and salvation to us no matter our circumstances or emotions, even if we have brought them on ourselves.

It is well: Because of God’s character, we can have the incomprehensible peace that comes from his Spirit, even in the midst of trials (Phil 4:7).

VERSE 2
The words here are poetically vague. Struggling with darkness might describe a battle with temptation, depression, illness, persecution, or almost anything else. In any case, the authors acknowledge that the struggle helps to cultivate humility. Paul makes this same connection in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

PRE-CHORUS 2
The image of a fire that refines gold comes from Malachi 3:1-4. This passage is about the Messiah, and it predicts that he will burn away all the impurities of Judah, her priests, and her worship. What comes out the other side will be pure like gold, though the process will be very painful. When we submit to the Lord in our suffering, it can have this same refining effect on us. James says as much when he tells us to rejoice when we face trials, because God will use them to cultivate perseverance in us and to perfect and complete our faith (Jam 1:2-4).

BRIDGE
Oh, oh, oh. Whoa. Oh, oh, oh. Whoa.

Accessibility

One of the strengths of this song is that it expresses deep experiences of suffering coupled with praise without getting lost in churchy language or hard-to-follow biblical references. I think most people would be able to understand the lyrics even with limited church background. The exception might be the word “hallelujah.” I think it’s become a generic word of celebration in our culture, divorced from its original meaning of “praise the Lord.”

I don’t think unchurched people will mind the metaphorical use of the word “hell.” In our culture, hell just means suffering. It’s only church people who will be bothered by that line.

The melody is kind of hard to follow, and the rhythms are a little tricky. The range is an octave plus a fifth, which isn’t unusual for a worship song, but it’s also pretty wide. Overall, I think this feels more like a blues solo type of song than a congregational worship song.

Music

The rough blues feel of this song is a perfect match for its lyric content. It expresses the pain as well as the resolve to keep fighting to praise God in every circumstance. This song uses contrast and dropouts exceptionally well to really dig into the words on the chorus.

Most of the song is reasonably playable for a church worship team except for the crazy instrumental bridge. I would probably skip that part.

Conclusions

This is tough. There is so much good about this song. I love that it captures the spirit of lament in a way that we often overlook in contemporary music. The blues style is also largely missing from our (white) churches. This song has a lot to teach about the complex relationship between praise and suffering. It is a valuable song that Christians should definitely listen to and meditate on.

No judgment to churches who continue to sing this song, but I think I have to regretfully land on a soft no. Here are my three reasons:
1. This song is more about the experience of praise than about the object of our praise. It’s about the hallelujah more than it is about God.
2. It’s going to be hard for the congregation to sing along. There’s only so much time on Sunday morning, and I want people to participate in as much of it as they can.
3. I just don’t like the “hell” line. I think it will offend/distract people. I also think it causes confusion about whether our suffering is wrathful hellfire or the merciful fire of God that refines us.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, and thanks for thinking about what you sing! Until next time.

Image by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Is ‘Made For More’ Biblical? A Worship Song Analysis

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

I listened to “Made For More” a couple times earlier this year, and I liked it alright, but it didn’t really grab my attention until we sang it at ICYC this weekend. I grew up attending this conference, so it was a neat full-circle moment to be able to come back and play keys in the worship band. Looking out over the students and singing this song, I found myself moved to prayer for them, that they would see that God has made them for more and that they would be raised to new life and new purpose in Jesus.

Josh Baldwin released “Made For More” as a live single featuring Jenn Johnson in January of this year. It has continued to grow in popularity since then, being featured on a single and album from Bethel and accruing over 8,000,000 Spotify streams in its various forms as of November 2024. Baldwin is a songwriter on the track, along with Blake Wiggins, Jessie Early (Nothing Else), and Jonathan Smith (House of the Lord, Glorious Day, Manger Throne).

You and I might be made for more, but is “Made For More” made for worship? Let’s dig in and see if “Made For More” is biblical and if it belongs on your Sunday setlist.

Focus

“Made For More” is about our identity, calling, and purpose, all found in Christ’s death and resurrection. It is both an encouragement and a call to action.

There is a lot of “I” and “my” in this song. I don’t think “Made For More” is self-centered, but it is individualistic. I’ll address both of those below.

We sing this song to God and address him as “You.” The reference to the “cross of salvation” makes it clear that we’re singing to the Christian God, not just any random deity.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE
The first line is the thesis of the whole song; “I know who I am cause I know who You are.” As believers, our identity is in Jesus. Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” and again in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” When we become Christians, we join Jesus in his death on the cross and are raised with him to new life. Christ identifies so closely with his church that we are called his body and his dwelling place (Eph 1:22-23, 2:22).

This verse declines to look back to our lost state before the cross, instead focusing on who we are now: chosen (1 Pet 2:9), free (Jn 8:36), forgiven (Ac 10:43), having a future worth living (Jer 29:11). This future is both now and not yet. Yes, we have a glorious eternity to look forward to in the new heaven and new earth that are to come (Rev 21:1-4), but we are also Jesus’ emissaries, witnesses that Christ has come to reconcile the world and that his kingdom is already here! Empowered by his Spirit, we carry this reconciliation with us and provide a foretaste to the world and the whole creation of what the glory of God’s fully realized kingdom will be like (Ac 1:8, 2 Cor 5:18-19, Rom 8:19-23).

CHORUS
In the first two lines of the chorus, I think the songwriters must have been thinking of Luke 9:57-62. Three different people are called to follow Jesus but present various excuses, one of them saying, “let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus replies, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” I don’t know the ins and outs of Jewish funeral customs, and someone else could certainly explain this story better than I, but it seems clear that all three people in this passage are looking back at their old life, finding excuses to remain trapped in the past rather than following Jesus into the new life of his kingdom.

Again, when we follow Jesus, we are baptized into his death and raised to new life with him. We can’t walk in our old, dead ways anymore because we have been born again (Rom 6:2-4).

The verse says this in yet a third way: instead of lying in a bed of shame, we have the opportunity to embrace the fountain of forgiveness, holiness, and grace that flows from Jesus (Zech 13:1). This grace not only give us life, but overflows from us to give life to others (Jn 7:38).

One thing that catches my attention in the chorus is that all the statements about “me” are in the passive voice. (🤓) Instead of “You made me for more,” it’s “I was made for more.” Is Josh trying to take God out of the picture? Why put the emphasis on me instead of God?? In fact, that’s the opposite of what’s going on here. The rhythm and melody place the emphasis on the third syllable of the line, so if we rephrase this line to make God the subject, then the word “me” actual falls on the third syllable and gets the emphasis. “You made me for more.” The way the song is written, it’s “I was made for more,” so the musical emphasis is on God’s act of making. The same is true of “I was called by name.”

BRIDGE
“Hallelujah” is a Hebrew word combining hallel, praise, with Jah, a shortened form of the name of God. It literally means “praise Yahweh.”

Jesus makes a habit of calling his followers by name. Mary, Peter, Zacchaeus, and even Paul/Saul experience the direct, personal attention of the Savior when he says their names. This interaction is transformative, totally changing the direction of their lives. To be called by name is to be known, and God certainly knows us deeply and fully (Psalm 139:1-16). When he brings us into his kingdom, we are not anonymous servants, but we are his children, heirs, and friends (Jn 15:15, Rom 8:17).

How can we respond to this love, this knowing, and this calling but with praise? And having died to sin and been resurrected with Christ, how can we turn back and live in sin and the shame of our past? (Rom 6:2)

Accessibility

Even without knowledge of the Scriptures referenced in the song, the powerful word pictures in “Made For More” invite the worshiper into the new identity, new life, and new purpose of the children of God.

I have two concerns regarding understanding. First, this song is pretty vague about what we were made for. More, yes, but more of what? We get some suggestive words like life, future, grace, praise, and Yours, and together, they sketch an outline of what new life in Christ feels like, but without an understanding of our purpose and mission from Scripture, we can fill that outline in with any dream or aspiration we like. Made for more…money? Nope.

Second, the language in this song is very individualistic. Our individual relationships with God are important, and we are each of us known and called personally, but our calling as a community, as the church is at least equally important. This isn’t necessarily a weakness, I just want to make sure that we aren’t only singing songs about our individual lives; we also need songs that discuss our calling, purpose, and identity as the unified Bride of Christ.

The majority of the melody is within a sixth. When you include the octave jump from the first verse and chorus to the second, the total range is an octave plus a third, so not bad for a contemporary worship song. Rhythmically, the chorus is especially easy to pick up on because of the way the words pulse easily with the beat.

Music

“Made For More” begins with simple piano chords accompanying the voices through the first verse. The rest of the band enters quietly at the first chorus, playing single chords that have the effect of unity and confidence. We jump up to a higher dynamic level for the second verse, now celebrating the words that we sang in quiet faith the first time. What was an expression of hope in the first chorus is now fully claimed as the truth of who we are. We drop back down for a slow build through the bridges which lead to a dramatic dropout for a chorus, really highlighting the voice of the congregation. There’s another loud chorus, then a loud bridge, then a quiet closing chorus. These are pretty standard dynamics for a worship song, but they are standard for a reason, and they communicate this song’s message well.

The only tricky chords are halfway through the post-bridge chorus when the band comes in. There’s a walkdown there that sounds best if it’s played with open 5ths rather than full chords. The rest of the song makes use of frequent alternate bass notes and suspended chords so that it feels a little more interesting than a I, IV, vi, V song.

I would call this an easy-intermediate song for a worship band to play.

Conclusions

“Made For More” is catchy, inviting, easy to learn, and easy to understand. It is both an encouragement to the downcast and a call-to-action for believers. As we sing, God reminds us that we are his dearly loved children, and his Spirit calls us out on mission. If we are made for more, we must take seriously the words and deeds that Christ calls us to; we must be the foretaste of his coming kingdom in this broken world.

I outlined above my two concerns above in the Accessibility section: this song is a little vague about what we are made for, leaving room to import wrong ideas, and it is very individualistic. Neither of these is an error, and no song can fully explain every subject that it touches on. We need to make sure that our song libraries contain more specific calls to share the Gospel, care for the poor, sick, and elderly, and be good news to our friends, neighbors, communities, and the whole world. We also need to make sure we have songs that sing about us and Jesus instead of only me and Jesus.

Having said all that, I think “Made For More” fills an important niche in our church song catalog. The vagueness that I mentioned as a concern is also a strength, allowing it to serve as a sending song connected to any number of scriptural calls to action. It provides encouragement and exhortation without assuming anyone’s emotional state or life story, and it reminds all of us that we have new life in Christ, and that it’s worth living that way.

Will it worship? You betcha.

Image by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

THAT’S WHO I PRAISE – Brandon Lake

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

This is a fun one! The latest in a long line of Brandon Lake hits with “Praise” in the title, “That’s Who I Praise” is a joyful, upbeat song of trust and praise. It came out this summer, and it’s already at the top of Brandon’s Spotify list, outranking Gratitude, Graves into Gardens, and Praise You Anywhere. The product of a collaboration between Benjamin Hastings, Brandon Lake, Micah Nichols, Steven Furtick, and Zac Lawson, “That’s Who I Praise” has a lot to say, so if I can pull myself out of the drum groove for a minute, we’ll check out the lyrics and find out if it’s biblical and if it will worship!

Focus

This song has two major themes. The chorus and bridge describe the character and power of Jesus. The verses invite us into the many ways his people respond to him in praise.

“That’s Who I Praise” uses many biblical titles and names for Jesus as well as some new ones. It identifies Jesus as God, and it’s abundantly clear that’s who we’re praising and singing about.

There’s a lot of “I” in this song. The authors use the phrase “I want” 10 times, and say things like “God’s got my back.” So the individual worshiper is also a focus of this song. Does this make “That’s Who I Praise” a self-centered worship song? That depends on how all those “I”s are used!

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
In the verses, the authors show various responses of praise and trust throughout Scripture and express their wish to respond the same way.

David danced before the ark of the Lord, celebrating God with all his might even though it was undignified (2 Sam 6:14). We want to have that same attitude, praising God without regard for our personal appearance or what others might think.

Paul and Silas sang hymns to God in prison, and then God freed them with an earthquake (Ac 16:25-26). Their song freed them and their fellow prisoners from the physical chains. But the real miracle is what happens next: rather than fleeing the prison, Paul and Silas stay to tell their jailer about Christ. He and his whole family are baptized, free from the chains of sin and death (Ac 16:27-34). We want to have that kind of faith!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace as a death sentence for refusing to worship an idol. Rather than burning up, they were unharmed by the flames, and a fourth figure appeared in the furnace walking around with them. People disagree on whether the fourth figure should be identified as an angel or perhaps Christ himself, but it’s clear that God was with them and protected them as they insisted that only the one true God was worthy of worship. When we also refuse to worship idols (literal or metaphorical) but turn our praise to the one true God, we can trust that he will be with us and will protect us.

VERSE 2
Moses and the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea on dry land when God parted the waters to allow them escape from Egypt. This formative event freed them from slavery and established their identity as a people (Ex 14). Like Moses, we want to trust in God and obey his commands even when they don’t make sense, and like the Israelites, we trust him to lead us into his eternal Kingdom.

There are all kinds of things in this life that frighten us, but God is greater than all of them, and nothing in all Creation can separate us from his love (Rom 8:38-39). Furthermore, in Philippians 1:27-30, Paul envisions a church whose unity and faith in the Gospel allows them to face opposition, suffering, and fear, confident that even these things point to their salvation in Christ.

VERSE 3
There are lots of Marys in the Bible, and this song refers to Mary of Bethany. She’s the sister of Lazarus (who Jesus raised from the dead) and Martha (who Jesus encouraged to do less housework.) In John 12, Mary pours a pound of expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet, then dries them with her hair. The parallel account in Mark 14 tells us that the perfume was in an alabaster flask (or vase), and that she broke it open in order to pour it out to the Lord. This ointment and its container were a serious investment, and Mary devotes the whole thing to Jesus. Once the flask is broken, there’s no putting the ointment back inside. We want to be similarly devoted with our hearts, our lives, and our resources.

Daniel (like his friends Rack, Shack, and Benny, mentioned above) ran afoul of a law forbidding him to faithfully worship Yahweh. When he refused to stop praying to God three times a day, he was condemned to spend a night sealed in a den of lions (Daniel 6). The text doesn’t tell us whether he slept or not, but when the king and his officials returned the next morning, Daniel was unharmed. In this part of the song, we’re asking for the peace to trust God and not fear the scheming of men (Pr 29:25).

Shortly after Israel began to enter the Promised Land, the city of Jericho stood in the way. God told Joshua, “See, I have given over Jericho into your hand,” and then gave him instructions that the people should march around the walls for six days, and then on the seventh to march around it seven times and blow the trumpets. They obeyed, and the walls fell. This song applies these words to our spiritual lives. Our praise is the figurative (or literal; I don’t know what your church is like 🤷‍♂️) trumpet blast that brings down any wall that comes between us and our Promised Land. For the Christian, this is not a literal land or physical possession, but our relationship with Christ is our inheritance (Ps 16:5-6). Nothing in this world or the next can separate us from his love, so anything that tries must come tumblin’ down (Rom 8:31-39).

CHORUS
The repeated line “I’m gonna praise” is reminiscent of the Psalmist’s “Bless/praise the Lord, O my soul!” (Ps 103:1, 146:1). In both, we remind our hearts that God is worthy of our worship and we exhort ourselves (and our fellow believers) to worship. Next, the song gives us several reasons God is worthy of our worship.

He moves mountains in response to the faithful prayers of his people (Mt 17:20).

He raised Christ bodily from the dead, freeing us from the chains of death and promising us new life on earth and eternal, resurrected life after we die (1 Cor 15:20, Rom 6:4).

Jesus is seated in the heavenly places with the Father (Col 3:1). This is a place of honor, and a place of ruling over creation.

Even in giving himself up to die, Jesus won the victory over death, defeating the last enemy of God and creation (1 Cor 15:26, 54-56, Col 2:13-15). Because of this stunning act of humility and sacrifice, the name of Jesus is the highest name in all heaven and earth (Ph 2:4-11).

Nothing is impossible with God (Mt 19:26).

BRIDGE
Jesus is the conquering Lion from the tribe of Judah who comes to enact God’s final judgment against sin (Rev 5:5). Then, in the very next verse, when he appears, it is not as a lion but as the holy and slain Lamb (Rev 5:6). He has conquered sin and death by taking their consequences and uncleanness upon himself and making mankind and creation holy through his blood. For this, he is counted worthy (Rev 5:9).

Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, God’s Anointed One, crucified and raised to life (Ac 2:36).

The Ancient of Days is a title for God in the apocalyptic vision found in Daniel 7. In this vision, the Ancient of Days receives the Son of Man (Jesus’ favorite title for himself) and gives him dominion, glory, and a kingdom. At first glance, it is a little odd that we’re singing to Jesus but using a title for God the Father, but John uses this same depiction of the Ancient of Days to describe Christ in Revelation 1. Both have eyes of fire, hair like pure wool, and shining clothes. So I think it’s best to remember Jesus’ statement that “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30) and not stress too much about which Person of the Trinity we’re addressing.

Accessibility

The verses require a great deal of Bible background knowledge to understand. I think someone without much church background would likely understand that we’re expressing a desire to emulate Bible heroes and their faith. They would recognize some images like Moses parting the Red Sea. But this represents a real barrier to understanding. Similarly, the chorus throws a bunch of descriptors out real fast without stopping to explain, so they could easily fly over many people’s heads. At the same time, this song presents a sliding scale of understanding, and it will make more sense the more that someone understands about God’s story. Hearing unfamiliar names and references might encourage people to dig in and learn what stories this song is talking about.

Without understanding the Bible stories referenced in the song, it’s possible to come away with just meaningless positivity. “God’s got my back!” “I’m gonna get that promise!” These statements can lead to complacency and laziness without understanding their context. God told the Israelites to march around Jericho, because he had decreed that it would fall. God protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire because they chose to honor his name instead of bowing to a false god. These are not blanket promises that God is going to destroy every “Jericho” I see in my life or that he supports my every decision. God is worthy of our praise and our obedience.

The chorus has a little bit of the same problem, but it’s not as bad since the words are generalized and don’t include “me” and “my.” Just because he is a mountain mover doesn’t mean that the problem I’ve identified as a mountain is going to be dealt with the way I want it to.

This one is pretty rangy. The song stretches an octave plus a sixth, so almost 2 octaves. This isn’t too out of the norm for a worship song, but we should expect that the lows are going to be too low or the highs too high for most congregants. (Or both! 😬) There are also several tongue twister moments in this one where most people will struggle to spit all the words out. I can already hear the congregation singing “I’m gonna praise! I’m gonna praise! I’m gonna humanumahumanuma highest of names!”

On the whole, I have to admit that congregational accessibility is a weakness of this song.

Music

“That’s Who I Praise” is super dynamic and energetic. It’s very much a CCM radio-friendly song; the sudden changes in intensity between parts of the song are great for captivating and holding short attention spans. They also make the song really fun to play! If you’re working on this one with a band, I would spend some extra time nailing those down so that everybody is in sync, especially the three hits at the beginning of each chorus (They’re dotted eighths, not triplets!).

Nothing too surprising in the chord progression, but CCLI SongSelect gets a couple of the chords wrong in the chord chart. There should be Cm instead of Eb on the first line of Verse 2 and Verse 3 (Thanks Robby Sams for catching that one!).

As I mentioned above, the melody line covers a wide range and is tricky to sing. So you’ll want to spend some time picking the right key and making sure your vocalist is up to leading this one. Fortunately, the parts for the instruments are simpler, so I think this song would be appropriate for an intermediate-level volunteer band.

Conclusions

Pros: The music is awesome and doable for the average church worship band. The words exalt Jesus for his resurrection and our salvation and hearken back to the praise responses of lots of Bible characters.

Cons: Difficult to learn and sing. Could be a little clearer about what kind of mountains God moves, though the Bible references do clear that up with a little digging. I wish it were a little more “we,” a little less “I.”

Will it worship? I am excited to sing “That’s Who I Praise” this Sunday, but if I’m really honest, I’ve got to call it a “Maybe.” The melody just isn’t very congregation-friendly. It’s a super fun, upbeat celebration of Christ’s power and worth, but it’s going to take several weeks (or a lot of K-Love listening) for the people to be able to sing along.

Image by Thomas Park on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

PRAISE – Elevation Worship, Brandon Lake, Chris Brown, Chandler Moore

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

The songwriting credits on this one feel like a who’s who of the worship recording world in 2024: Brandon Lake, Chandler Moore, Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Pat Barrett & Steven Furtick. It’s hard to imagine these guys getting together and writing a flop! To be honest, I avoided this song for a while because it came out around the same time as “Praise You Anywhere” and I felt like it would be a little redundant to have them both in active rotation. A year later, we’ve slowed down on “Praise You Anywhere,” and “Praise” is hanging out comfortably at #4 on CCLI, so it seemed like a good time to introduce it to the congregation.

“Praise” is fun, catchy, and uplifting, but is it biblical? Let’s check it out.

Focus

“Praise” is a song about praise. The worshiper encourages their own soul to praise God in every circumstance, and in the process we encourage one another to the same. The main reasons given for this praise are God’s power, his faithfulness, and Christ’s resurrection.

Lyric Analysis

INTRO (& OUTRO)
The intro makes clear the corporate nature of this worship song. While much of the rest of “Praise” uses “I” language, it really is aimed at the whole congregation, and the intro makes this clear. The words here are a direct quotation of Psalm 150:6, the last verse in the Book of Psalms.

The intro and outro are in a very different musical style from the rest of the song, and our congregation is unused to call-and-response chanting, so we typically skip this part.

VERSES
The verses are mostly a series of commitments to praise in any and every circumstance. They are often set in positive/negative pairs: mountain/valley, sure/doubting, when I feel it/when I don’t. This is an outworking of the attitude David expresses in Psalm 34. The first verse of the Psalm says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” The psalmist goes on to encourage listeners that the Lord hears and delivers his people when they suffer trials, and so he can be praised in the midst of plenty or affliction.

Verse 1 has stirred up a wee bit of controversy with the line “praise is the water my enemies drown in.” Yikes! Should we really be singing about drowning our enemies in church? Like many references in contemporary worship songs, this one is anchored in the Exodus. Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.” That’s the image this line should conjure in our minds, not the waterboarding of our workplace rivals or the cop who wrote us an unnecessary ticket, but the utter destruction of the forces of evil that enslave and oppress God’s people. Verse 2 uses a parallel image: the shouting of the Israelites that God commanded to bring down the walls of Jericho (Jos 6).

Jesus tells us to love our human enemies (Mt 5:43-48), and Paul tells us that the real fight is against the spiritual forces of evil and darkness, not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). Praise is an expression of faith, and faith in Jesus is our weapon in the fight against sin and death.

So, the question about drowning our enemies with praise is not whether it is biblical or true, but whether it is likely to be misapplied, and whether it is appropriate for a given congregation. Regarding misapplication, I don’t see much danger. The most likely misreading of this line is still going to come off as something close to Proverbs 25:21-22; no reasonable person is going to think this song condones murdering people while singing to Jesus. The other concern is whether the brief mention of violence in this song is going to be so distracting to people that it sidetracks them from worship. There may be some congregations where this is the case, but I think the imagery of warfare is so pervasive in Scripture that we serve our people better by equipping them to understand and contextualize it rather than try to avoid it.

PRE-CHORUS
See Psalms 35 and 150 again.

CHORUS
“Praise the Lord, O my soul…how can I keep it inside?”

Some people find it awkward to sing to their own souls in worship, but that’s exactly what we do in the chorus of “Praise.” Some songs written for worship can be self-centered rather than Christ-centered, and I can see why singing to oneself might raise red flags. But, in Psalm 103, David says “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” So the Psalmist is singing to his own heart, exhorting himself to praise God for saving him, blessing him, keeping his covenant, and showing compassion. When we encourage ourselves toward praise in this way, we also encourage all the gathered believers to praise God as well.

Indeed, the latter half of the chorus makes it clear that we are only speaking inward in order to express outward. If our souls learn to truly praise the Lord, we can’t keep it shut up inside but must express our love for him in our speech, attitudes, and actions. The resurrection of Christ (“my God is alive”) must be shared continually with our fellow believers and those who do not yet know Jesus’ love and power.

BRIDGE
The bridge is pretty straightforward. It’s directed toward God rather than inward, and it gives four excellent reasons that God deserves our praise. First, his reign is sovereign. God is in control, and the universe is his dominion and will be forever. Nothing and no one can contest his rule (Dan 7:13-14).

Second, he rose and defeated death. Having joined Christ in his death through baptism, we also join in his eternal resurrection. In dying and rising, Jesus disarmed, defeated, and triumphed over our spiritual enemies of death, sin, and darkness (Col 2:12-15).

Third, God is faithful and true. God keeps his covenant promises to his people perfectly, even when we are unfaithful to him. Jesus is the perfect and final fulfillment of all God’s promises (2 Cor 1:20)

Fourth, their is no one greater than our God. All strength ultimately comes from him, and the greatness and glory and victory always belong to him. He is exalted above all (1 Ch 29:10-11). Every knee in all creation must bow at the name of Jesus (Php 2:10).

Accessibility

The choruses and bridge are easy to understand, even with little Bible knowledge. There are a couple lines in the verses that only make sense if you know the stories of the crossing of the Red Sea and the fall of Jericho, and it takes some context to understand what it means to conceive of praise as a weapon for spiritual battle. So while there are a couple lines that might spark some questions or confusion, I think these are important questions that bear thinking about, and it’s healthy to prompt people to wrestle through them. I don’t see much danger of harmful theology due to misinterpretation.

Regarding singability, the entire melody of this song is within an octave, so that’s a plus! The refrain of “pra-a-a-a-aise the Lord, oh my soul,” is repeated often and is easy to pick up. The verses and bridge have a repetitive rhythmic structure that is easy to learn. And this one is super catchy! Very singable.

Music

We usually usually skip that call-and-response chant at the beginning of this song since it would be a little outside our congregation’s musical comfort zone (though maybe that’s a reason to do it 🤷). It did work really well at camp this summer; it’s easier to get middle and high school students to buy into different kinds of participation.

The verses and pre-choruses do a fantastic job building energy and excitement as they establish when and why the Lord deserves our praise. The choruses absolutely explode with joy and celebration.

Nothing crazy in the chord progression. The changing chords over the stagnant bass in the bridge and less so on the verses are a neat change of pace and contribute towards the effect of building energy.

One strength of this song is that the difficulty is adjustable to some extent. The drummer can play a pretty basic beat and still accomplish the dynamic goals of each section of the song. Guitars can play simple strum patterns or get really into it and go crazy. This song is all about joy, so it’s hard to do too much!

Conclusions

Will “Praise” worship? (😂) It sure will!

This is one of the most joyful, energizing celebrations of God that I know. It’s a great song for stirring up our hearts to offer him the praise he so fully deserves. The simple and repetitive choruses are supported by the reasons for praise offered in the bridge, and this song provides opportunity to encourage ourselves and one another towards praise of the God who conquers death. I definitely recommend this one as an opening song to call the congregation to worship.

Image by Lou Lou B Photo on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

THAT’S MY KING – Lloyd Nicks, Bridge Worship, CeCe Winans

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

“That’s My King” popped up a few months ago as a new release from CeCe Winans on SongSelect, and I clicked on it because I thought it was going to be based on the famous sermon “That’s My King” by S.M. Lockridge. It’s not. But what it is might be even better!

(Update: This song has exploded since I wrote this review, and it has gone on to win a Grammy and a Billboard Music Award! I love the heart and attitude of the songwriters in their acceptance speech.)

In an interview with The Christian Beat, songwriter Lloyd Nicks describes working on the song with friends Jess Russ, Kellie Gamble, and Taylor Agan, gathered around an out-of-tune piano, finding the difficulty of capturing with words the “bigness and greatness of Jesus.” He says they were trying to write a song that couldn’t be contained, because the King is himself too big to be contained. What Nicks and friends wrote is a joyful, infectious celebration of the glory, character, and heart of God.

“That’s My King” is catchy, personal, and transcendent, but is it biblical, and will it worship?

Focus

This song is about the glory and praise of God. It lists many attributes of his character and gazes in wonder upon the King who defies description. It revels in the uncontainable glory and holiness and beauty of God and also draws near to him, repeatedly emphasizing “that’s my King.”

The subject of the song is identified as King, God, and Shepherd, among other titles, and sometimes we sing directly to God in 2nd person. The song is both personal and corporate, using “I” and “my” alongside “we.”

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
“I wish I could tell you // wish I could describe it”

In the first verse, the worshipers address each other. We are in awe of God and can’t contain him in our words, but also can’t help but speak about him. What I love about this verse is that it sees the futility of trying to explain the wonder of God and what he’s done for us, but it still doesn’t give up trying. It’s not that there aren’t words; there just aren’t enough words.

“There aren’t enough colors to paint the whole picture” is a beautiful metaphor, and it begins to break our minds and hearts out of the box. Just like we can’t imagine colors outside the visible spectrum, we can’t fully imagine God with the limitations of our minds and experiences.

One quirk of Christian worship is that even though we acknowledge that God is indescribable, we can’t help but try to describe him! It’s not that we can’t or shouldn’t use our words, it’s just that there aren’t enough of them to explain who he is or even what he means to us.

PRE-CHORUS
This section is a rapid-fire list of seven characteristics of God, and I want unpack each one of them just a tiny bit.

Wonderful: He’s the God who creates wonders (Ps 8:3), works wonders (Ex 15:11), and fills us with awe and wonder (Ac 2:43, Heb 12:28).

Beautiful: When we speak about God being beautiful, we are talking about more than aesthetic beauty, though certainly not less. In the Psalms, when God’s beauty is mentioned, it is in connection with his temple. He shines forth out of the place where he comes to dwell with his people, drawing all nations toward himself and his goodness.

Glorious: Much like his beauty that draws people to him, God’s glory fills the temple or the tabernacle in the Old Testament. It’s described as a cloud, something so radiant that humans cannot fully look upon it (Ex 40:35). In the New Testament, we see that through Jesus’ work on the cross, the veil is torn (Mt 27:51). We are no longer kept out of God’s glorious presence but invited in!

Holy: This is one of those church words that we sometimes use without much understanding of what it means. It’s related to glory and beauty, but different too. We often think of holiness as moral goodness, and that’s part of it, but it also refers to God’s total uniqueness, his other-ness. Much like the glory that kept Moses and the Israelites from entering the tabernacle, God’s holiness is dangerous to those who would enter his presence while tainted by sin or impurity. But in Christ, God brings his holiness near to us, pouring out from him and purifying us instead of destroying us.

For an awesome (and animated!) exploration of God’s holiness, check out this video from the Bible Project. It really helped me understand it in a new way!

Merciful: God’s love is abounding towards us, and he is slow to anger and quick to forgive (Ex 34:6). Mercy is his character, always lavishing his grace and kindness on us (Eph 2:7).

Powerful: God showed his mighty power when he defeated Pharaoh and his armies to rescue Israel from Egypt (Ex 32:11). But in Christ, we see God’s power even more clearly. He chooses to conquer evil and even death itself through the humble death of our Savior on a cross (Rom 1:16). The power of his Spirit is displayed in our lives when we let him work through our weakness to show how his strength (2 Cor 12:9).

King: God made the world, and it belongs to him. Through his Church, he is building his Kingdom, and he will return to set every wrong thing right and to reign in peace, justice, and righteousness (Isa 9:6-7).

CHORUS
“Who we talking about? // That’s my King!”

If this song just said “He’s the King,” it would praise God for his sovereignty. If it just said, “He’s mine,” it would express intimacy with God. But saying “That’s my King!” does both. He is the ruler we gladly embrace, and we are overjoyed to belong to him. In one line, we honor him as ruler and delight in being his dearly loved children. I love it!

The rest of the chorus is just different ways of praising him. He’s worthy. We declare his glory and give him honor. We commit to adoring him. We agree with Paul in Romans 11:36 that all things are for him and through him and to him. Echoing the first of the Ten Commandments, we declare that there is no one before him (Ex 20:3).

VERSE 2
In Luke 19:28-40, Jesus’ disciples praise him loudly on his entry into Jerusalem, causing quite a disruption. When religious leaders object, Jesus tells him that if the people fall silent, then even the rocks will cry out in praise. In “That’s My King” we promise not to let that happen.

In Revelation 4-5, the inhabitants of heaven, angels, people, elders, and strange creatures sing several songs of praise that are reminiscent of the words of this song. They also declare God’s worthiness, his holiness, his glory, honor, and power. This is the eternal song of praise that we join into as we worship God.

BRIDGE
The bridge builds further connection between the worshiper and God as each line explains who he is to us on a personal level. When I say he is my king and God, I am offering him my fealty and obedience. When I call him my Shepherd and Protector (Jn 10:1-18), I am counting on him to protect and lead me. When I call him my Rock (Mt 7:24-27) and Anchor, I am trusting him to hold me steady through any storm I face in my life. When I call him my Defender, I know that he is the victor of every spiritual battle and that nothing can take me from his hand (Rom 8:38-39). So, these lines offer truths about who God is, but they also call for a response of faith and trust based on those truths.

Accessibility

This song is super easy to understand. We explained the theological significance of holiness, glory, and power up above, but a congregant doesn’t need to know all of that information to enter into worship with this song. Anyone who listens to even a little bit of “That’s My King” will understand that it is offering praise and glory to God. This song is clear and precise and leaves no room for misunderstandings.

Is “That’s My King” singable? I think so. The verses are a little tricky timing-wise, and the choruses have lots of syncopation, but the rhythms repeat themselves enough that the average person can learn them easily. I also love the call-and-response of “Who we talking about? // That’s my King!” It provides an entry point for someone uncomfortable with singing in church to join in the question-and-answer pattern. 95% of the melody sits within an octave, so the range is pretty accessible for a worship song.

Music

“That’s My King” is an infectious gospel celebration of the kingship of God. It is always pushing forward, and in my experience, it sweeps up the whole worship team and congregation in its joyful drive of praise. The dynamic arc is effective, straightforward, and exciting. The chord progression is fresh and will keep the congregation on their toes without them realizing exactly why. The instrumentation paints the words of this song with glory and highlights each characteristic of God that we sing about.

If your worship team is unaccustomed to playing in a gospel style, this song is going to take some extra work. The chord progression is very different from the I-V-vi-IV pattern that is so common in the Hillsong-Bethel-Passion vein of modern worship. There are some bVIIs and bVIs, and some cool instrumental sections that require changing chords in between beats. Even if you’re a white church with a white praise band, I think this song is playable, and it’s a great place to begin introducing some gospel music influence to your team and your congregation. Our team has loved playing it, and I think they’ve enjoyed the challenge of thinking and playing outside the box a little bit.

Function

Gathering | Word | Table | Sending

I probably wouldn’t do this one during Communion, but anywhere else in the service is fair game! It can serve a unifying function, gathering the congregation into a worshiping body. It declares truth about God’s power, love, and beauty. We want to send people out of church talking about the King, and this song does exactly that.

Conclusions

Will it worship? You bet!

“That’s My King” is one of my very favorite new worship songs. The music is exciting, joyful, and serves to expand the palette of churches used to a steady CCM diet without going so far outside the box as to confuse or frustrate. The lyrics are rock-solid, and what I think is really special about this song is the juxtaposition of God’s sovereign kingship with his personal relationship to each believer. We all need to be reminded that God is King and that he’s my King.

We’re singing this one again this Sunday, and I think it’s going to remain a congregational favorite for a long time!

(Update: we did, and it has.)

Image by Scarlet Ellis on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

MANGER THRONE – Phil Wickham

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

“Manger Throne” is a new Christmas worship anthem from songwriters Phil Wickham, Jonathan Smith, and Tony Wood. The lyrics juxtapose Christ’s glory with his humility, his throne with his manger. The music paints those words with epic, sweeping accompaniment that feels like a return to the soundscapes I loved on 2010’s Heaven & Earth.

“Manger Throne” got lots of radio play in the 2023 holiday season, but is it a worship song? Are the words theologically sound and biblically accurate? What even is a manger throne? Do you sit on it or in it? And does Jesus still have one? Let’s find out!

Focus

The main idea of this song is the humility of Christ’s Incarnation. Phil explores this theme through the paradoxical image of a manger throne and by exploring the connection between the Christmas story and the story of Christ’s death and resurrection.

This song is fully Christ-centered. It is all about the person and work of Jesus, calling him by name and exalting him for his victory-through-humility.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES
(WARNING: I’m going to jump around a little bit to unpack this song thematically rather than in order. If that stresses you out, I apologize.)

The two verses of this song portray the same idea. Jesus had all power and authority at his disposal when he entered into our world, but he chose to come meekly, humbly, fully embracing our humanity by being born as a baby.

Jesus could have come into the world with a pillar of fire as in the Exodus (Ex 13:22) or perhaps the consuming fire that destroyed the blaspheming priests Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-3). The same heavenly host that came to sing a song of peace at Christ’s birth might well have brought a sword instead (Lk 2:12-14, Gen 3:24). Jesus could have come as a conqueror to overthrow the oppressive yoke of Rome, force the submission of all the nations, and establish Israel’s political ascendancy as many expected him to do during his earthly ministry (Ac 1:6-7).

But, as verse two says, the story God wrote through the Incarnation is so much better! Rather than conquer through overwhelming force, Jesus humbles himself, emptying himself of his divine power. He becomes fully human, allowing himself to be embraced by common, lowly people—a carpenter, his wife, some shepherds—so that he might fully embrace all of our humanity (Phil 2:6-8).

PRE-CHORUS 1
“But You chose meekness over majesty//wrapped Your power in humanity”

These two lines are a perfect summary of the verses. It’s a succinct expression of Christ emptying himself to take on the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-8, again).

PRE-CHORUS 2
This section identifies the culmination of Christ’s humility. As we read in Philippians 2:8 (for the third time), Jesus’s humility did not merely extend to being born as a man. He submitted himself even to a humiliating, torturous death for our sake. Jesus’ blood redeems us to God and forgives our sins (Eph 1:7). And his resurrection is the power and the guarantee of our resurrection with him (Rom 6:5). I appreciate that this bridge views Christ’s work through the lenses of substitutionary atonement and his victory over sin and death.

BRIDGE
Here, we see the full arc of the Incarnation. Jesus was enthroned in heaven from eternity past, and then he willingly humbled himself to be born in a stable, cradled in a feeding trough. From the beginning of his life on earth, he lived humbly, and he did not refuse to submit to death on the cross. If we read just two more verses from Philippians 2, we see the result of all of Christ’s humility and submission: exaltation.

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth“
Philippians 2:9-10

Jesus’ reign and glory are achieved through self-sacrifice, humility, peace, and bringing all of humanity together in himself (Eph 2:14), not through violence, political maneuvering, manipulation, or any other scheme of man that has supported every other throne in human history.

CHORUS
“Glory be to You alone//King who reigns from a manger throne”

God alone is holy, worthy of worship, his name glorified forever (Rev 15:4). Jesus is both God and King (Heb 1:8, Phil 2:9-10), so it is right and good to offer him this glory.

It is also good to offer him our lives and our possessions, as we are called to be living sacrifices (Rom 12:1). This line is an expression of surrender. It’s aspirational in a sense, because I don’t know anyone whose life and possessions are fully surrendered to Jesus, but that doesn’t make it untrue. In singing this line, we call ourselves and one another to be more wholly devoted to our Servant King and his Kingdom of servants.

But what about the titular Manger Throne? Are we saying that Jesus was actively reigning over his kingdom from the manger even while he was a pre-verbal infant? That doesn’t quite make sense if he emptied himself and took the position of a servant (Phil 2:7). Or are we talking about Jesus’ present reign at the right hand of God? Does that throne need to be manger-shaped? Or maybe it’s made of reclaimed wood from the manger? Or maybe this is the future millennial reign?

Fortunately, we don’t need to tie ourselves into such knots over this song. The manger throne is a visual illustration of Jesus’ character and a symbol of his reign and kingdom, not a literal piece of furniture. Getting hung up on whether Jesus could be said to “reign” as an infant misses the point of the song because we’re not talking to tiny baby Jesus; we’re talking to the resurrected King Jesus who is present with us today as we worship him. This Jesus is fully God and sits enthroned, and he is also fully human, still characterized by the love and humility that led him to be born in a manger.

(Thank you to Vince and Neal on The Berean Test for some stimulating thoughts on this section of the song, and the image of the manger throne in particular!)

Accessibility

This song uses plain language to express the deep mystery of Jesus’ glory and humility, his Godhood and his humanity, perfectly one in the incarnate Son. It does a great job of making these heady theological ideas accessible through description and imagery, especially the key metaphor of the manger throne. I don’t see any room for misinterpretation.

Singability is ok, not great, not terrible. The range is an octave plus a 3rd, not bad. The rhythms of the verses are a little tricky, especially since no line starts quite the same way. The bridge also has a different melody on the repeat, so the congregation doesn’t have an opportunity to learn it and then repeat it the same way. That said, the chorus is very straightforward. It’s got a high note, but it can be sung an octave lower by the basses in the room.

Music

As I mentioned above, I love how this song feels like classic Phil Wickham. The use of synth and choir is lush, beautiful, and impactful. If you have those tools at your disposal, use them! I also appreciate that even though this is a Christmas song, it doesn’t slap you in the face with holiday cheer. It’s not all sleigh bells and minor 7ths and snow and reindeer. This song is perfectly appropriate to any Sunday of the year, especially if Christ’s incarnation is being discussed. We just played it this past Sunday, in June, and nobody batted an eye. (…but we did have to swap out some of the glittery Christmas backgrounds in ProPresenter!)

This is a great song for teaching dynamics to a worship band. It follows the typical structure of a quiet opening building to some bigger choruses and a huge ending. The way the instruments layer in gradually through the song is easy to replicate and makes this song flow naturally and in an engaging way. (Just don’t let anybody play when they’re not supposed to!) The chord changes come pretty quick in a few places, so it might be worth it to work through those together once or twice in rehearsal. If your lead singer isn’t a tenor, you may need to bump it down a step, and they will want to practice the entrances on the verses; those are tricky.

Conclusions

Let heaven and nature sing! “Manger Throne” definitely worships. It links Christ’s birth to his death, resurrection, and eternal reign. It teaches the theology of the Incarnation in a unique and valuable way through imagery. It’s also beautiful, emotional, and fun to sing and play.

10/10 would recommend!

Image by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.