Brooke Ligertwood and Cody Carnes – Bless God

Brooke Ligertwood is a Hillsong worship leader, calling them home since 2004.  She began her career in 2002 and released five albums, including:

• What to Do with Daylight (2003)
• Albertine (2006)
• Flags (2010)
• Brutal Romantic (2014)
• Seven (Live, 2022)

Ligertwood won 18 awards, including a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song (2018), APRA Awards (New Zealand) for Most Performed Work in New Zealand (2004, 2007, 2011, 2013), and Best Female Solo Artist (2004).

Also, check out my reviews of A Thousand Hallelujahs and Honey In the Rock.

Contemporary Christian artist Worship leader Cody Carnes started his career in 2009.  He released two albums and two EP’s, including:

• The Lighter Side (EP, 2009)
• All He Says I Am (EP, 2014)
• The Darker the Night The Brighter the Morning (2017)
• Run To The Father (2020)

He is credited with two awards by Elevation Worship on their song The Blessing, including Worship Recorded Song of the Year (2020) and Song of the Year (2021).

Also, check out my reviews of Firm Foundation (He Won’t), Too Good To Not Believe, Nothing Else, Christ Be Magnified, Run to the Father, and The Cross Has the Final Word.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Brooke-ligertwood-bless-god-lyrics.

Side Note: Although Brandon Lake is a third co-author, I could not find a recorded version for him.  Thus, I did not include him.  Also, I pulled the lyrics from Ligertwood because studio versions tend to rate better than live versions, plus, the request was originally for her version.

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 the potential blessings and dangers of these artists‘ theology by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

It is blessings in various forms, both for God’s blessings on man and man’s blessing of God through praise and worship.

God blesses those who:

• embrace Him
• trust Him
• seek Him
• prostrate themselves before Him
• sacrifice for Him

Man blesses God because He:

• is worthy
• is glorious
• provides
• comforts
• destroys strongholds
• decimates enemy weapons

In addition, God:

• will not abandon those who are His
• ensures that we are immovable in our convictions

Also, man will continually praise Him, even during hard times.

Score: 10/10

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

The entire song oozes with Scriptural goodie bags.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas for each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Blessed are those who run to Him

Quotes from the second part of Psalm 34:8.

Who place their hope and confidence in Jesus

We are firm in trusting Jesus (1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Corinthians 1:24, Ephesians 6:11, Philippians 1:27, Philippians 4:1, Colossians 1:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:11, Hebrews 10:23, and 1 Peter 5:9).

He won’t forsake them

No He will not (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:8-9, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 118:6, Lamentations 3:22-23, and Hebrews 13:5-6).

Blessed are those who seek His face

That is, the pure in heart because we will see God (Matthew 5:8).

Who bend their knee and fix their gaze on Jesus

We surrender to His ways (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6) with eyes affixed on Him (Hebrews 12:2).

They won’t be shaken

As written in Psalm 62:1.

[Stanza 2]

Come on and praise the Lord with me
Sing if you love His Name
Come on and lift your voice with me
He’s worthy of all our praise

Ligertwood and Carnes invite others to join in song because He is worthy to be praised (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).

[Stanza 3]

Blessed are those who walk with Him
Whose hеarts are set on pilgrimage with Jеsus
They’ll see His glory

Most likely based on Psalm 84:5 in combination with Matthew 5:8.

Blessed are those who die to live

Paraphrased from Revelation 14:13.

Whose joy it is to give it all for Jesus
And for Him only

See Stanza 1, line 5.

Oh Jesus, all for Your glory

Do all for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, Colossians 3:17-23, and 1 Peter 4:11).

[Stanza 4]

Come on and praise the Lord with me
Sing if you love His Name
Come on and lift your voice with me
He’s worthy of all our praise

Repeats Stanza 2.

[Stanza 5]

Come on and bring your offering
Sing if you’ve known His grace
Come on and lift up your holy hands
He’s worthy of all our praise

Perhaps best summarized in Psalm 96:7-8.

[Stanza 6]

Bless God in the sanctuary
Bless God in the fields of plenty
Bless God in the darkest valley
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name

The fourth line summarizes the first three lines, which is a paraphrase of Psalm 34:1.  We should praise Him at church (Psalms 150:1), when He provides (Genesis 2:15-16, Genesis 9:3, Genesis 22:8, Exodus 16:1-36, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 34:10, Psalm 81:10, Psalm 84:11, Psalm 107:9, Proverbs 10:3, Malachi 3:10, Matthew 6:25-30, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14, John 14:26, John 15:1-10, John 15:16, Romans 8:32, Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8, and 2 Corinthians 12:9), and when times are tough (Psalm 23:4).

[Stanza 7]

Bless God when my hands are empty
Bless God with a praise that costs me
Bless God when nobody’s watching
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name

Follows the same format as Stanza 6, with the fourth line the same.  This time, it is about blessing Him with humility (James 4:10) and sacrifice (Matthew 16:24 and Luke 14:33), especially when nobody is looking (Matthew 6:6-8).

[Stanza 8]

Bless God when the weapon’s forming
Bless God when the walls are falling
Bless God ’cause He goes before me
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name

Follows the same format as Stanza 6, with the fourth line the same.  This is about the sword that is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) that is written in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10), obstacles that are in out path that fall with praise much like the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6:20), and that He guides us (Deuteronomy 31:8).

[Stanza 9]

Bless God for He holds the victory
Bless God for He’s always with me
Bless God for He’s always worthy
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name
Every chance I get I’ll bless Your Name

Follows the same format as Stanza 6, with the fourth and fifth lines the same.  This final bout of blessings contains our victory in Jesus (Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14, 1 John 5:4-5, and Revelation 12:10-11), His Presence in our walk (see Stanza 1, line 3).

[Stanza 10]

Come on and praise the Lord with me
Sing if you love His Name
Come on and lift your voice with me
He’s worthy of all our praise
Come on and bring your offering
Sing if you’ve known His grace
Come on and lift up your holy hands
He’s worthy of all our praise

Repeats Stanzas 2 and 5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

They will experience information overload, yet, everything that is stated is written in everyday language and easy to comprehend.  The song’s opening two lines make it explicitly clear that Christians praise Jesus for His blessing, and in turn, bless Him for the things He had done, as listed in section 1.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God because He is with us, sent Jesus to rescue us, helps us overcome barriers that prevent us from fully worshipping Him, and blesses those who seek His face, among other acts.  It also glorifies Him when we humbly yield to His ways.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Brooke Ligertwood and Cody Carnes’ Bless God pours out blessing upon blessing.  God blesses us and we bless God.  He is patient with us, gently and lovingly guiding us to Himself if we but subject ourselves to Him in surrender.  In turn, we thank God for His victory in Jesus, supplies our needs, and wipes out anything that gets in the way of worship.  Even if we’re going through the worst hell on earth, He is there with us.  Though not explicitly stated, this is proven through the cross.  These points bring Him glory and are easily understood by those who don’t yet believe.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Bless God (listen to Ligertwood’s version of the song or Carnes’ version of the song)

Artist: Brooke Ligertwood and Cody Carnes

Album: EIGHT (Ligertwood) and Firm Foundation (Live) (Carnes)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2023

Duration: 4:52 (Ligertwood) and 6:02 (Carnes)

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*Copyright © 2024 City And Vine Music Publishing International (BMI) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / Writers Roof Publishing (BMI) Capitol CMG Paragon (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com), Brandon Lake Music (ASCAP) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.