I Stand In Awe Of You / I Sing Praises To Your Name

Don Moen spends the first half of this medley trying to describe something he admits language can't quite hold — "beautiful beyond description, too marvellous for words, too wonderful for comprehension." Rather than force an explanation, he lets the questions stand unanswered: "who can grasp Your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of Your love?"

The only response left, after the description runs out, is posture rather than argument — "I stand, I stand in awe of You." Moen shifts into the second half almost as a natural continuation, trading wonder for repetition: "I sing praises to Your name... for Your Name is great and greatly to be praised," said plainly enough times that it stops sounding like commentary and starts sounding like liturgy.

David makes the same move in Psalm 145:3, declaring the Lord "greatly to be praised" precisely because "his greatness is unsearchable," and Paul writes in Philippians 2:9-11 of the name God gave that is "above every name." Moen's closing line — "your name is higher above all us" — is less a conclusion than the only sentence left once description has failed.