10,000 Reasons – Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman

Bless the Lord, O my soul…(Psalm 103:1)

It started with some words written 30 centuries earlier, from the heart of a songwriter-king, one who was said to have a heart after God (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22) (David is shown making music here to King Saul, in this Rembrandt masterpiece). So, at its most fundamental perhaps these words’ origin is God Himself. That might be what Jonas Myrin would say if you asked him how he started writing a song called “10,000 Reasons”, which his friend Matt Redman later helped him finish off in 2011. The words unmistakably have the imprint of verses that believers would recognize, if they read an ancient text that today remains the source of many of our faith songs. The Holy One reminds us through that king who is some 30 centuries old, and through these contemporary composers, that there’s too much evidence of His goodness to ignore.   

There are clues in the song story of “10,000 Reasons” that both Myrin and Redman must have had their bibles open when the words for the song came to them. Myrin apparently had the chorus – whose first six words match the Psalmist-King David’s Psalm 103 – composed already when he showed his idea to Redman. Then Redman wrote three verses, whose ideas reflect what the remainder of the psalm says about all the ways the Creator has given to His offspring. Redman and Myrin also must have been awestruck by what they studied, because they fashioned another phrase – in fact, the song’s title – to emphasize the enormity of His gifts to civilization. Redman says the two composers collaborated for less than an hour to finish the song’s words, perhaps a testimony to the value of the text they chose as their springboard. The words Redman added for verse one come straight from what he says about the psalm’s meaning for himself – I have a reason to praise Him every day that I awaken, if my outlook is right.

How long would it take to mention 10,000 things He has done for me? We might lose count after just a few dozen. Would it make more sense to make each day count for one reason, and do that 10,000 times? Do some simple math – it’d take 28 years to accomplish this task. Redman and Myrin expand the scene further. Try 10,000 years of praising, because that’s what we look forward to doing, according to their concluding verse. If each day of that span was used for one reason, that’d be 3.65 million reasons! Do you suppose that would be enough? The Infinite, the Eternal One, can be counted upon for more, don’t you think? In Redman’s and Myrin’s own words, that’s when we’ll really be singing like never before.  

The following link is the primary source for the song’s story:

http://churchmusictoday.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/behind-the-song-10000-reasons-bless-the-lord-by-matt-redman-and-jonas-myrin/