Thank You (I Won't Complain)

Fred Hammond's “Thank You (I Won't Complain)” is a song about choosing gratitude when life is hard. It opens quietly with “a praise that lives deep in my heart” that says, “Oh Lord, I love You.” He then admits that there are times when things do not work out, burdens are heavy and there is no joy in sight. His answer is to put his eyes back on God, who has always come through.

The chorus gives the song its name. “Lord, You've been good to me. You made the way I could not see. Your love came in and lifted me, and now I won't complain.” The second part widens into a memory of years of faithfulness, with the line that there is not a closer friend than God. Later the tempo lifts and the singers say they will lift their hands and praise in the midst of each storm because God is worthy, even when weary eyes can't see what is best. The long ending repeats “Thank You” and invites the room to say it with him. The song never denies pain. It makes thanks a decision, and the repetition turns it into something a whole congregation can say together after a rough season.

Giving thanks in all circumstances is 1 Thessalonians 5:18. New mercies every morning are in Lamentations 3:22-23, and continual praise is Psalm 34:1.