Praise - (feat. Brandon Lake, Chris Brown & Chandler Moore)

Reflection

Praise is an odd instruction to give someone in pain, yet scripture keeps offering it anyway. This collaborative track, bringing together voices from Elevation Worship's circle, sits in a long tradition of songs that choose thanksgiving as a response to hardship rather than a reward for comfort. The psalmists modelled this constantly, moving from lament to praise within the same breath, sometimes before their circumstances had changed at all. Psalm 34:1 says, I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth, a decision made regardless of mood. That does not mean feelings are dismissed, but that praise can be an act of will and trust, a way of declaring what is true about God even when everything else feels uncertain. Multiple artists singing together also pictures something communal: praise is rarely meant to be a solitary exercise, it grows louder and steadier when carried by others. Perhaps that is part of why songs like this resonate, they let people borrow courage from one another.

Questions to sit with

• What difference does it make to praise God before your circumstances improve?
• Who has helped carry your faith when your own felt weak?
• How do you respond when gratitude feels like a discipline rather than a feeling?