Blessed Be Your NameYes, that's the point of worship--you worship anyway. Real worship is not about getting an good feeling, blessings from God, or a free ticket to Heaven. Worship is defined by what you give, not by what you get. It's about worshiping God because of who He is and what He's done regardless of whatever else is happening.
(Job 1:21)
by Matt Redman
Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name when I'm found in a desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed by Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be your name
Matt Redman wrote the popular song "Heart of Worship". If you haven't read the story of how he wrote it, you must.
I'm glad a contemporary christian artist has used that particular reference to Job in a song. Indeed, worship is, first and foremost, the praise of our Great God.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, too many artists just string praise words together to make a song, and don't seem to make any attempt to make their work say anything. I find the over-repition of "praise to the lord, praise to the lord (x10)" to achieve nothing in a worship-full sense.
Thoughts?
I agree. Meaningless repititions are not worship, and there is nothing like repition to render words meaningless. But we must not go overboard with this principle. Handel's "Halelujah Chorus" is one repititions "ditty" I'd hate to loose, because the music underlying the word in question is so artfully varried. Likewise the Biblical phrase "holy, holy, holy" is certainly repititious but intensifies the meaning of the word threefold. And the art Hebrew poetry is based on the structured repitition of ideas, which most modern readers find boring and redundant.
ReplyDeleteFor me, repitition is meaningless when it loses all forms of artistry and becomes a mindless excercise in hypnosis. This is often seen in Pentacostal/Charismatic worship services when a musical phrase and the accompaning lyrics are repeted "x10". Unfortionately, many of the McWorship songs the Christian record industry churns out have adopted this style as well.
Blessed be Your Name is one of the better worship songs in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteBut I really share Dave E's opinion on repetitiousness.
and dave, i like your "McWorship" term. That's fitting.
Freedom of worship styles is a perk of our age; the downside is that freedom means free to make dumb mistakes, such as boring people with repetition.