"Praise" - Good or Bad song

I realize that the songs I will be analyzing over these next several months are extremely popular and these songs are sung throughout the world every week by thousands of churches. I also realize that these songs are catchy and song leaders (aka worship leaders) love to play them. But we have to take a step back and ask, “Are the lyrics Biblical?” Are these songs teaching Biblical truths or are they teaching questionable truths that could potentially lead us away from the clear teachings of Scripture. Today’s song will be extremely controversial, but again I ask you to look at the lyrics and think through the message of the song with me. Is this message good or bad? Let me be clear what my definition of a good song. I am defining a good song as a song whose message is in alignment with the clear teachings of the Bible, God’s Word. If the song does not teach, or agree with the clear teachings of the Bible, then it is a bad song.  Bad songs need to be ignored, and we need to stop singing songs that are bad, regardless of how popular they are, or how they make us feel, or how fun they are to sing or play. As pastors, music leaders (paid or volunteer), or musicians that oversee the congregational music, we must Biblically check all the songs we use.

Today’s song is “Praise” by Elevation Worship. This song was first released in 2023 and according to CCLI’s top 100 songs for the week of August 3, 2026 it is song number 11. Which means if you attended a public gathering of Jesus followers this past week, chances are you sung this song. But is it a good song? Before we begin analyzing, here are the lyrics for you to read.

Praise

Intro

Let everything that has breath

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord

Verse 1

I’ll praise in the valley

Praise on the mountain

I’ll praise when I’m sure

Praise when I’m doubting

I’ll praise when outnumbered

Praise when surrounded

'Cause praise is the water

My enemies drown in

Pre-Chorus

As long as I’m breathing

I’ve got a reason to

Chorus 1

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Verse 2

I’ll praise when I feel it

And I’ll praise when I don’t

I’ll praise 'cause I know

You’re still in control

'Cause my praise is a weapon

It’s more than a sound

My praise is the shout

That brings Jericho down

Chorus 2

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Praise the Lord oh my soul

I won’t be quiet

My God is alive

How could I keep it inside

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Bridge

I’ll praise 'cause You’re sovereign

Praise 'cause You reign

Praise 'cause You rose and defeated the grave

I’ll praise 'cause You’re faithful

Praise 'cause You’re true

Praise 'cause there’s nobody greater than You

Chorus 3

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Praise the Lord oh my soul

I won’t be quiet

My God is alive

How could I keep it inside

I won’t be quiet

My God is alive

How could I keep it inside

I won’t be quiet

My God is alive

How could I keep it inside

Praise the Lord oh my soul

Ending

Let everything that has breath

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord

This song begins by quoting Psalm 150:6 which says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” The artists then begin verse 1 by talking about how we should be praising the Lord no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. When we are in the valley, when life is difficult, or when we are on the mountain, when life is going well, we need to praise the Lord. This is so true. We need to praise the Lord no matter what we are going through because our praise is based upon God’s character, not our life’s circumstances. I will fully admit, praising God is easier to do at times, then other times. When we feel like life is beating us up, it is harder to praise the Lord. But we need to follow Job’s example.

Talk about a bad day, Job lost everything in one day. All his material possessions, gone. All his kids, gone. On another day, he lost his health and was in extreme pain. The only thing he had left was his life and his wife. That is it. At the end of chapter 2, his wife comes to him and tells him to curse God and die. Job responds, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Why do we praise the Lord? Because of who He is; our praise of God is based upon the character of God, not our life’s circumstances.

             But then the song takes a turn. The artists talk about how praise is the water our enemies drown in. What? What enemies are they talking about? Are they talking about our true enemy as believers in Jesus? Because according to the Bible, our true enemy is Satan (Ephesians 6:11-17). How did Jesus overcome Satan? By quoting Scripture, not by his praise (Matthew 4:1-11). According to Paul, the only weapon we have to stand firm against the “enemy of our soul” who desires to destroy us like a roaring like (1 Peter 5:8) is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). That’s it! And the reason why we are able to stand firm against the lies of Satan through the Word of God is because it is the truth. If we try to use anything else to stand firm against Satan, we will fail. Just look at Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. She did not stand upon God’s Word accurately and Satan caused her to doubt and reject God’s Word. The truth of God’s Word, the Bible, is the only way we can stand against our enemy.

The second verse continues to reveal some questionable ideas about our praise.  They write how our praise is a weapon, it is more than a sound. This idea is extremely popular in modern worship music; how our praise is a weapon, how our praise is powerful and we can cause things to happen in the spiritual realm through our praise. Again, no where in Scripture says this. So where do these song writers get the idea that praise is a weapon, or something that is so powerful that will cause God to do miraculous things? The end of verse 2 explains their rational behind the phrase "praise is a weapon." They point to the Battle of Jericho in Joshua 5:13-6:27. Here is the question, “What caused the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down?” Was it the “praise” or the shout of the army? No! What caused the walls of Jericho to tumble down? The Lord. The battle of Jericho was a test for the nation of Israel to see if they would obey God’s instructions. They weren’t yelling to bring the walls down, they were following the instructions of the Lord and giving a war cry because the battle was about to begin. In Joshua 6:2 we read, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.” The Lord brought those walls down and the nation of Israel contributed nothing, except their obedience to God’s plan.

How should we consider this song? Good or Bad? The artists do make some good points about who God is in the bridge and how we should praise the Lord in all circumstances. But why do we praise the Lord? What is our motivation for praising the Lord? Are we praising the Lord in those bad circumstances in order for God to change our circumstances, to bring down our “enemies” or our “Jericho’s”? If so, then this is wrong. In this song, we sing about how God is sovereign, yet we forget what Job told his wife, should we only accept good from God, and not trouble. We should be praising God for who He is, not to manipulate Him to rescue us from all our troubles. We praise God out of the overflow of our hearts, because we recognize just how great, how awesome, how majestic is the Lord.

Because of the bad teaching of why we should praise the Lord and the bad teaching of what our praise is supposed to accomplish, I would label this song a bad song.