Blessed Be Your Name by Matt and Beth Redman

• Posted: January 12, 2009
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• Author: Tom Arthur
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• Filed under: Highly Recommended, Praise Music
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• Tags: Blessed Be Your Name, Blessing, Job 1:21, Lament, Matt Redman, Suffering

Blessed Be Your Name
By Matt and Beth Redman
Reviewed by Jeremy Williams
jeremy[at]traversebaychurch[dot]org

Matt Redman
Lyrics
Sample Music

Jeremy’s ratings (1 lowest, 5 highest)

Can the band play it? 3

Written in B, which is tricky for beginning guitarists. The rhythms are easy to play (a simple 4/4 chug), but some of the singers’ entrances and phrasings will take practice. Make sure to back off the volume on the verses, to give energy to the chorus.

Can the people sing it? 4

People love to sing it, and it’s easy to sing along once the band has it, but it has quite a range (a tenth) and goes too high for congregational singing (long stretches at D#).

Content OK? 5

Scripture focus: Job 1:21

21 and [Job] said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.” (TNIV)

CCLI lead sheet available

Eugene Peterson once said that every church with a praise band ought also to have a lament band. Here is a song with music the praise band can enjoy, and words that take a modest step outside the monotony of happy celebration.

The Redmans build upon Job 1:21, to form a coherent and spiritually challenging message. The song does a fine job reminding the singer of the sometimes heavy responsibility to bless the Lord, to be thankful in bad as well as good times. This makes a welcome change from a desire-centered prayer life, in which suffering is only an occasion for crying out for help. Yet as Job and his friends sat shiva (the seven-day period of mourning) over his family, they neither blamed the Lord, nor became desperate whiners attempting to make claims on the Lord. Later, while his friends looked to apply blame, either to God or to Job himself, Job’s answer was to remain faithful to the practice of worship, and to honor God in the midst of everything. In the words of this song, “Blessed be your name when I’m found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name.”

The song makes three theological claims in its reflection on suffering. First is the claim just stated, that we are responsible to give praise in every situation. Second, our suffering and brokenness can itself be a gift to God: “though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be your name.” The song then gives an opportunity to reflect on the imitation of Christ, and how our brokenness can glorify God and serve others.

The third theological claim is the paraphrase of Job’s words that fill the bridge: “You give and take away.” It would have been easy to bend this message to a predestinarian and fatalist slant, and that would have been a shame, but the Redmans choose to return to their good core message: “My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.” Can it be that the biblical message itself is being heard? Instead of fatalism we hear and sing the ancient challenge and choice to worship in every situation. It is fair to complain about many Christian songs that they say too little, too many times (Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, yes, Lord!). In this song, however, I’m glad that we allow the biblical message to speak for itself.

Conclusion: Highly Reccomended

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