pwarchive.com - Resources

"In what ways should the realities of pain and suffering find it's way into the writing of modern worship music? Why?"

Pain seems to make an appearance in biblical worship in at least two kinds of ways. The first says something like 'whatever happens, regardless of all the difficult things that are happening to me I'm going to praise you God'. The second says something like 'God look at the mess I'm in please help me'. The master class in this kind of pain-aware worship is of course the book of Job - after suffering strikes Job in the most dramatic way he immediately begins to grieve. But he grieves in the presence of God.

Shaving his head and tearing his clothes scripture says he falls to the ground in worship! Then he says this: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:20).

In other words my world has fallen apart but God you are still worth worshipping. You are still good and caring despite the fact that my situation seems to suggest otherwise. Songs that communicate this powerful truth have stirred the saints through the ages. Horatio Spafford's “It Is Well” has seen me, and no doubt thousands of others, through difficult times . . .

"when peace like a river attendeth my way (when times are good!)
when sorrows like sea billows roll (when times are bad)
whatever my lot Thou has taught me to say
It is well it is well with my soul..."

Spafford goes on in the song to explain how the Christian soul is able to praise God with this statement of faith regardless of circumstances. Christ has regarded our helpless estate and shed his own blood for my soul! A remarkable song considering the fact that it was written following the death of his four daughters in a sea disaster. These are the songs that are sung when God's hand reaches into our lives and comforts us even in the midst of suffering. These are the banquet songs sung around God's table prepared for us in the presence of our enemies.

A great contemporary example of this kind of song is Matt and Beth Redman's “Blessed be Your Name”. But this kind of transcendent declaration of the goodness of God in the face of suffering is not the only way in which pain occurs in the worship of the saints. We are more familiar with this kind of suffering worship corporately, but there is another way in which the saints have worshipped God through their pain.

This is the earthy, bleeding, desperate worship sung while waiting for the kingdom of God to come. Whereas the first category of pain-aware worship is often sung with a peace that passes all understanding, this second kind of pain-aware worship is sung whilst waiting for that peace. And whereas the first category of worship is often more declaratory in nature - telling of God's character and the goodness of his saving power - the second category is more petitionary in nature - unashamedly coming before God's throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help us in times of need.

A phrase that was often used in the Old Testament as short-hand to describe worship was “calling on the name of the Lord.” That is what this type of worship is about - a call for help - and the scriptures are filled with it, especially the Psalms. Often the call for help is surprisingly honest about the callers feelings at the time, such as Psalm 22, a worship song that Jesus “sang” just before he died. It has this kind of disarming honesty...

“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groanings?
O my God, I cry out by day but you do not answer....”

and then later on…

“O my strength, come quickly to help me.…”

This kind of worship pulls no punches. It is open acknowledgement of a desperate need for God. Without this kind of prayer our conversations with God have the polite but shallow quality of dialogue with a famous stranger.

Eugene Peterson, speaking of the Psalms says this:

“"Help" and "Thanks!" are our basic prayers. But honesty and thoroughness don't come quite as spontaneously. The psalms teach us how to pray honestly. And it is 'only as we develop raw honesty and detailed thoroughness in our praying do we become whole, truly human in Jesus Christ, who also prayed the Psalms” (introduction to the Psalms translation, The Message).

As songwriters, our challenge is to write corporate songs that help us express the truth of who God is and the truth of our lives as we really live them in a worshipful way to God. I've found writing this second kind of worship song for a corporate setting tricky and leading this kind of song in a corporate setting even trickier. I guess if I've learned anything, it's that these kind of raw, petitionary songs are not necessarily for every worship occasion. But there are definitely times when we need to sing them. And when they express the heart of a worshipping community we can connect with God in a way that often leads to his deliverance.

As often happens in the Psalms the deliverance comes after the psalmist is real with God about where they are. A great contemporary example of this kind of pain aware worship is Steve Merkel's “Lord have Mercy”. The song is an open acknowledgement of a sense of distance from God and a cry for help, and yet it manages to be corporately accessible as well. So it is possible!

One last word of caution. In writing and singing songs that petition God, it can be surprisingly easy to take our eyes off the God of our songs - forgetting who He is and what He is like. Like the psalmists of old, make sure there is a balance between the truth of where you're at, but also the truth of who God is - the powerful, merciful, saving King who comes to deliver his people!

God bless you as you write.

Brenton