Music has always been a big part of my life. I grew up listening to Christian music from a very early age, although by junior high and high school I had crossed over into plenty of secular music too. My musical tastes have always been pretty broad. I’ll listen to almost anything except country music and a lot of pop. I can enjoy bluegrass. I can appreciate opera. But if you hand me the controls, chances are we’re eventually going to end up somewhere in hard rock or metal.
In another branch of the multiverse, I’m pretty sure I’m playing drums or guitar in a band. In this life, however, I only ever learned to play the trumpet. But I played it a lot. I played in jazz band, marching band, orchestra, pep band, worship band, and performed solos and duets. I even had the privilege of playing with the late Pastor Bradley Quick, who once sat first chair at the University of Michigan. That guy could play. Of everything I did musically, jazz band was probably my favorite. Once I went off to college, though, I hung up the trumpet.
I still wish I had the time to learn guitar or drums. For now, I have to settle for air drums and air guitar, usually accompanied by Christian bands like Becoming the Archetype, Stavesacre, The Prayer Chain, Project 86, and plenty of others that can make the walls shake a little. My secular tastes aren’t exactly quiet either: Foo Fighters, Metallica, AC/DC, Jimmy Eat World, and plenty more have occupied my playlists over the years.
My Christian music journey has changed quite a bit over the decades. I grew up with bands like DC Talk, Petra, and Whiteheart before eventually discovering the heavier side of Christian music through bands like Bride, Living Sacrifice, Underoath, Norma Jean, Tourniquet, and others.
But the heavy stuff wasn’t where my musical education began.
When I was young, hymns, praise music, and gospel were simply part of life. I grew up hearing my mom’s CDs from artists like Steve Green, Steve Camp, Sandi Patty, and Michael Card, while one of my dad’s favorites was Keith Green. Every once in a while there would even be some Southern Gospel from groups like Gold City or The Kingsmen. It was all part of the soundtrack of growing up in a Christian home, and at one point or another, I’ve learned to appreciate just about all of it.
Somewhere along the way, though, I stopped appreciating hymns and praise and worship music the way I did when I was younger. Maybe my musical tastes changed. Maybe I wanted something heavier, louder, or more complicated. Or maybe I simply hadn’t lived enough life yet to understand why some of those songs endure.
Suffering has a way of changing the way you hear a song.
Over this season of sorrow in my life, I’ve found myself returning to many of those old hymns and worship songs while also discovering newer Christian songs that seem to put words to things I haven’t always known how to express. There are songs about hurting. Songs about waiting. Songs about fear. Songs about forgiveness. Songs about trusting God when you don’t understand what He’s doing. And there are songs that simply praise Jesus in the middle of all of it.
I appreciate those songs more now than I ever have before.
There is something different about singing about God’s faithfulness when you actually need Him to be faithful. There is something different about singing about trusting God when you cannot see what He’s doing. There is something different about praising Him when life hurts. A song you’ve heard a hundred times can suddenly sound completely different when you’re hearing it from the valley.
The Hymns That Came Back to Me
One of the greatest examples is the old hymn “It Is Well with My Soul,” written by Horatio Spafford with music by Philip Bliss. The words are beautiful on their own, but knowing the incredible suffering behind the hymn gives them an entirely different weight. Spafford wrote the words after experiencing devastating personal loss, including the deaths of his four daughters in a shipwreck. This wasn’t a man casually singing about trusting God. These were words born out of unimaginable grief. That’s why “It Is Well with My Soul” has come to mean so much more to me than it once did.
Song Title: It Is Well with My Soul
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
History: Read the story behind the hymn
Another simple song that will always be special to me is “I Love You, Lord.” It’s not because of some complicated theological message or incredible musical arrangement. It’s because my son Jacob has sung it since he was little. Sometimes a song becomes precious simply because of the person whose voice you remember singing it.
Song Title: I Love You, Lord
Writer: Laurie Klein
Video: Listen on YouTube
Then there’s “Trust and Obey,” written by John H. Sammis with music by Daniel B. Towner. We used to sing that hymn with our boys when they were small. Back then, “trust and obey” sounded like a simple lesson you teach your children. Years later, I’ve discovered just how difficult—and how necessary—those two little words can be.
Trust God.
Obey God.
Even when you don’t understand.
Song Title: Trust and Obey
Writer: John H. Sammis
Music: Daniel B. Towner
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
That’s part of what music has become for me during this season. Sometimes it’s worship. Sometimes it’s a reminder. Sometimes it’s a prayer. Sometimes it’s something I can crank up in the car when I don’t have the words myself. And, yes, sometimes I just need distorted guitars, double-bass drums, and somebody screaming into a microphone.
So this isn’t meant to be a definitive list of the greatest Christian songs ever recorded. It’s something much more personal than that.
This is my playlist for the valley.
These are songs that have spoken to me through suffering, reminded me to forgive, helped me praise God when praise didn’t come easily, and, occasionally, helped me burn a few bridges with the past and keep moving forward.
Turn it up.
Songs of Suffering
Need You Now (How Many Times)
Artist: Plumb
Album: Need You Now
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
Worn
Artist: Tenth Avenue North
Album: The Struggle
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
Fear Is a Liar
Artist: Zach Williams
Album: Chain Breaker
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
Thy Will
Artist: Hillary Scott & The Scott Family
Album: Love Remains
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
You Say
Artist: Lauren Daigle
Album: Look Up Child
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch the official music video
Even If
Artist: MercyMe
Album: Lifer
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
The Silence of God
Artist: Death Therapy
Album: Melancholy Machines
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Grace
Artist: Stavesacre
Album: How To Live With A Curse
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
God Only Knows
Artist: for KING & COUNTRY
Album: Burn the Ships
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
It Is Well
Artist: Michael W. Smith
Album: Hymns
Lyrics: Read the hymn lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Praise You in This Storm
Artist: Casting Crowns
Album: Lifesong
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
Freefall (From Hand to Hand)
Artist: Stavesacre
Album: Speakeasy
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Be Still
Artist: Reinhardt Buhr feat. Mandie Buhr
Album: Arise
Lyrics: Song information and lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Songs of Forgiveness
Forgiveness has been one of the hardest lessons of suffering. These are a couple of songs that remind me that holding on to bitterness doesn’t undo what happened. Sometimes letting go isn’t about saying that something was right. It’s about refusing to let it own you.
Losing
Artist: Tenth Avenue North
Album: The Struggle
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Watch on YouTube
Let It Go
Artist: Newsboys
Album: Take Me to Your Leader
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Songs of Praise
Suffering can’t be the only thing on the playlist.
There still has to be praise. There still has to be worship. There still has to be a reminder that God is God regardless of what happens around me. Sometimes praise sounds beautiful and reverent.
And sometimes praise needs a really loud guitar.
New Body
Artist: Audio Adrenaline
Album: Some Kind of Zombie
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
How Great Thou Art
Artist: Becoming the Archetype
Album: Dichotomy
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Waymaker
Artist: Tyson James, Bryson Gray & Hannah Barr
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Get Down
Artist: Audio Adrenaline
Album: Underdog
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Songs to Burn My Bridges By
And then there are these.
I’ll admit, these songs come from a different place. They’re a little bitter. Some are a little angry. They’re the songs I tend to reach for when I’m feeling either of those things myself—when frustration is building, when I’m thinking about everything that’s happened, or when part of me just wants to crank something loud and let the music say what I’m feeling for a while.
I usually harbor a little guilt when I listen to them, too. As a Christian, I know bitterness isn’t somewhere I’m supposed to live. Anger can be real and sometimes justified, but I’m also warned not to let it take root in my heart. Ephesians 4:26–27 says, “Be angry, and do not sin,” followed by the warning not to give the devil a foothold. A few verses later, we’re told to put away bitterness, anger, and malice and instead become tenderhearted and forgiving toward one another (Ephesians 4:31–32).
So these aren’t necessarily songs that represent where I want my heart to stay. They’re more like songs for those moments when I’m being honest about where my heart happens to be.
Sometimes I turn them up. Sometimes I let myself feel the frustration for a while. Maybe there’s some air drumming involved. But eventually the anger burns itself out, the volume comes down, and I remember that I don’t want bitterness to have the final word.
That’s usually when I find my way back to praise.
Maybe I’ll turn on “It Is Well.” Maybe “Praise You in This Storm.” Maybe I’ll simply find something that redirects my attention away from everything that’s been done to me and back toward the God who is still with me through all of it.
I don’t think faith requires me to pretend that anger, hurt, and bitterness never show up. But I do believe faith requires me to decide what I’m going to do with them when they do.
So, yeah, sometimes I have a few songs to burn my bridges by.
I just don’t want to stay there.
Grylliade
Artist: The Prayer Chain
Album: Mercury
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Colt .45
Artist: Stavesacre
Album: Absolutes
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Anything Right
Artist: P.O.D.
Album: Satellite
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Breakneck Speed
Artist: Project 86
Album: Song to Burn Your Bridges By
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
Crank the Knife
Artist: Tourniquet
Album: Crawl To China
Lyrics: Read the lyrics
Video: Listen on YouTube
