Bethel Music (Feat. Cory Asbury & Naomi Raine) – Reason to Praise

Bethel Church was founded in 1952 in Redding, California.  They release their music under the label Bethel Music, which became active in 2001.  They produced several albums, so many that I dare not count them all.

They won two GMA Dove in 2016: one is Worship Song of the Year for their work on No Longer Slaves.  The other Instrumental Album of the Year for their album Without Words: Synthesia.

Check out my other Bethel Music reviews.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Bethel-music-reason-to-praise-live-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.  I strongly encourage you to consider this artist’s theology’s potential blessings and dangers by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Though Bethel Music experiences hardship, trials, disease, faithlessness, and their worst day, they know that God is the answer to their problems. He is still ruling and has their best interests in mind when He responds. He also rescues them from the grave with His undeserved favor, paid for by Christ’s death and secured with His resurrection. For these reasons, Bethel Music worships God. His breath of life is within them.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Post-Chorus, and Outro will not be favorable.  Post-Chorus (3) essentially repeats the same three lines six times (the first two are also repeats), though it also contains variations of spontaneousness.  Outro follows the same format with essentially the same lyrics as Post-Chorus (3) and slightly different spontaneousness.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

The entire song is filled with God’s Word.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Contrasts the ending of self (2 Corinthians 5:17) with God beginning a new work in Bethel Music (Philippians 1:6).

Lines 3 and 4: Combines mountains that fall with mustard seed faith (Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, and Mark 11:23) with God as Creator (Genesis 1:1, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 8:3-8, Psalm 33:6, Psalm 96:5, Proverbs 3:19, Isaiah 37:16, Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 66:1-2, John 1:1-3, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:16, and Revelation 4:11).

[Verse 2]

Line 1: He is faithful even when Bethel Music is faithless (2 Timothy 2:13).

Line 2: Amid Bethel’s sinful nature brought forth (Jeremiah 17:9 and James 1:14-15), God is good (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 23:6, Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19-20, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 106:1, Psalm 119:68, Psalm 135:3, Psalm 136:1, Psalm 145:9, Lamentations 3:25, Nahum 1:7, Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19).

Lines 3 and 4: Everything exists to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17-23, and 1 Peter 4:11).  He is Bethel’s most prized possession (Philippians 3:8-10).

[Chorus]

Line 1: He is the Great Physician (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, and Luke 5:31).

Line 2: About salvation, He is the only way (John 14:6 and Acts 4:12).

Lines 3-5: God’s sovereignty over creation (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11), alongside salvation and healing mentioned in lines 1 and 2, gives Bethel Music reasons to praise Him.  They also ask their audience to…

[Post-Chorus]

Line 1: Help them say “praise”, that is, to join them in worshipping God.

Line 1: “Praise”, followed by “yes” and expressions of enjoyment.

Side Note: The second iteration of Post-Chorus is a bit longer, but essentially repeats Chorus, line 5.  The third is even longer, but essentially the same lyrics as the second.  They, alongside future iterations of Chorus, contain references to Casper the friendly ghost.

[Verse 3]

Line 1: God takes the evil in Bethel Music and turns it around for good (Genesis 50:20).

Lines 2-4: Grace and revival (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23) come about through Christ’s death (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15-26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9), burial (Matthew 27:57-61, Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-56, and John 19:38-42), and resurrection (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

[Bridge 1]

Lines 1 and 2: References Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Lines 3-6: Uses the “stone rolling away” references in Matthew 28:2, Mark 16:3-4, Luke 24:2, and John 20:1 to describe Bethel Music’s spiritual resurrection (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

Lines 7-12: Repeats lines 1-6.

[Bridge 2]

Lines 1-4: Summarizes Chorus.

Lines 5-16: Essentially repeats lines 1-4.

[Outro]

The entire thing is similar to Post-Chorus’ third iteration, including spontaneous Casper references and 2 Corinthians 13:14.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers will probably think it’s about Jesus given that it mentions the name “God”, the cross, and praise.  Christians praise God for the reasons listed in section 1.  The entire song is written in everyday language, with points easy for them to comprehend.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God/Jesus as the One praised for His actions to save, heal, rescue, remain trustworthy, and revive.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Bethel Music’s Reason to Praise does precisely what the title suggests.  It gives us reasons to praise God, including His generosity, healing, salvation, and faithfulness.  These glorify God.  Unbelievers should find interpreting similarly effortless.

To those who are OK with its repetition, consider this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Reason to Praise (Live) (listen to the song)

Artist: Bethel Music (Feat. Cory Asbury & Naomi Raine)

Album: Homecoming (Live)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2021

Duration: 8:31

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.