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

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