Exegeting the Hymns #57 - Blessed Be Your Name

Blessed Be Your Name
w/m - Matt & Beth 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 the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out, I'll 
Turn back to praise
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 be Your name

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

One of the most powerful testimonies in the pages of scripture is in Job 1:22, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”  The first two of chapters of the book of Job tell the story of God’s testing His servant through use of the devil, and Job passing the test in two ways:  he did not sin, and he did not blame God.  That is a testimony that we all should follow when we face the trials and testing, the “good gifts” spoken of in James 1.  Job did not sin or blame God, but what did he say instead?  The preceding verse tells us, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Job did not sin or blame God, but he did praise…and so should we!

This is a song of contrasts.  Blessed Be Your Name in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow.  Blessed Be Your name when I'm found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness.  In the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13, we see two temptations to fall away and not let the seed take root.  One is that life gets too bad, and the other is that life gets too good.  Both can become a reason people give for not blessing the name of the Lord.  Either we get too carried away by the pleasures of this life, or we get too discouraged by the tribulations.  This song reminds us that God is worthy of blessing and honor in all He leads us through.

Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise.  When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Job took all God would allow the devil to dish out, and would not be moved from praising His Lord.  Yes, he felt loss and pain and sadness, but it did not diminish his praise.

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me, when the world's all as it should be.  Rest and happy circumstances, times of peace and abundance, are great moments to be full of thanksgiving and to, in turn, pour out that abundance on others.  Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering.  Trial and testing, times of loss and conflict, are great times to run into the arms of the Savior for answers and, in turn, bear the burdens of others.  God should receive glory in every season of our life.

You give and take away.  My heart will choose to say, “Lord, blessed be Your name”  That really is the key…it’s a choice.  The circumstances aren’t always in our control.  Our emotions can be swayed by events in our life, but our response is always our choice.  Like the old hymn says, “Trust and Obey”.  That is what we are called to do, all the while blessing the name of the Lord!

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