I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the very modern hymns.
Today’s song is Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman. It’s from 2002.
I think that it might be the first of the “modern” songs that I heard, probably around 2010. Back then, I was only vaguely familiar with some of the 1990s songs 😀. It took me some years to adjust to the 21st Century.
When I first heard today’s song, it reminded me of U2’s With Or Without You.
I used to see U2 in Cork way back around 1980. One of the distinctive things that I remember about U2 is how Bono would spontaneously sing excerpts from songs by other artists. It would be funny if Bono launched into singing Blessed Be Your Name in one of his concerts. Or perhaps Matt Redman could launch into With or Without You while singing Blessed Be Your Name. 😀.
Anyway, let’s get to the song itself. It reminds us to always look to God in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving, when things are going well and when things are going wrong. He knows what He is doing. When we commit our lives to Him, we have our place in heaven, but we’ll be down here for a while yet. And we can think of this life as our training ground or boot camp. It might sometimes feel a little bit like heaven, but other times, it doesn’t.
You don’t often hear hymns based on the book of Job, but Job comes to mind when I hear “Blessed Be Your Name”.
Job 1:21
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
And here are some other verses that touch on the theme of the hymn:
Psalm 113:2-3
Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Here are some interesting versions of the song from around the world:
Hibernia Gospel 