Saturday, April 3, 2010

Blessed Be Your Name – Matt and Beth Redman


Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. (Nehemiah 9:5)

Thank you. It’s a pretty common phrase. Yet, it’s sometimes difficult for us to vocalize the words. Even to God, to whom a believer owes so much, a thanksgiving might be forgotten amongst other emotions. That ‘s the sense that Matt and Beth Redman convey in their book “Blessed Be Your Name”, a detailed exposition of their thoughts that are summed up in the song by the same name. How does one say ‘thanks’ to the Almighty, the eternal God? Is blessing the Lord possible?


Maybe that’s why I say it so seldom, because I think the words are so inadequate for Him. How can I, a puny human, ‘bless’ His name. Do a keyword search in your online Bible using the words ‘bless’ and’ Lord’, and it’s usually Him blessing us (depending on the Bible translation version you use), with God’s people exhorted on a rare occasion to bless Him, during Nehemiah’s time (see the passage above). So maybe that’s why it seems so foreign, this ‘blessing the Lord’ idea. The Redmans write that we need to cultivate, to nurse along the gratitude attitude, because it’s so easily ignored in a human’s heart, perhaps as rare as the Biblical phrase ‘bless the Lord’. They challenge us to consider the following which can be taken for granted: the human body – my brain, my heart, my skin, and my senses, all of which are marvels of complexity. Also, where would I be without food, and the many avenues God has paved for its provision? What about family and friends? And, the list goes on, if you just stop and look around. That’s one chapter in the Redmans’ book. The song tells us that there’s another side to ‘blessing God’ – when times are tough. What’s their advice on ‘blessing’ in the wilderness and the desert, where it’s dark? Job’s words (1:21) resonate with those who have traveled this way. That chapter (or chapters) is also part of the Redmans’ testimony, with a hint of it in the song.


 The Redmans have not discovered something novel, nor been the first to express it in song. Their 21st Century rendition has echoes from other composers, and they call out to them in their writing, to Fanny Crosby’s “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” and Thomas Chisholm’s “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. So, “Blessed Be Your Name”, though a Dove song- and album-of-the-year (2005 and 2006) award-winning effort, owes its heritage to others. Its message stands on the shoulders of so many predecessors, even since Noah (Genesis 9:26). The Redmans say that thankfulness in the temporal things around me give me opportunity to practice, to nurture my gratitude. This practice will make me more conscious of weightier matters, like salvation, God’s mercy and grace, His renewal of my existence. That’s not apparent in their song, but their book spells out this message, that this maturation will further propel my ‘blessing the Lord’. It should be a message I communicate in an upbeat attitude to others, even if there are challenges here below. An elder (Larry Campbell) I knew went on to his reward recently, after a life of blessing, of positive communication. When asked, he often replied that he was “doing fantastic…because of the Lord.” That’s blessing Him, isn’t it? You pass it along to others, in order to bless the Lord. I have the feeling the blessing will continue in heaven.

See the following sites for Matt Redman’s comments on the song “Blessed Be Your Name”, a sample chapter of the book by the same name as the song, and for biographic information on him: C:\Documents and Settings\David\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\G3OMDD06\BlessedName_Sample[1].pdf

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