Laugh Out Loud

Joy that arrives by surprise starts "Laugh Out Loud." Jason Gray sings, "I shake my head at my good fortune, as I shake the dust off of my boots. Yesterday I was an orphan, somehow today I belong to You." The sense of being adopted follows Romans 8:15, and the line that follows is the invitation of the chorus, "don't it make you wanna laugh out loud?"

The chorus is unusually playful, with actual "ha ha" laughter in the lyric, followed by "shout hallelujah" and "if you got joy, go and let it on out." The idea of laughter as thanks matches Psalm 126:2, where the mouths of the rescued were filled with laughter, and Psalm 30:11, which turns mourning into dancing.

The second verse describes the contrast between living and being alive. "I was alive but I wasn't living, a prisoner of my fear and shame, but when you find you've been forgiven, laughter will rise like a holy kind of praise." The bridge quotes an invitation in Jesus' voice, "bring to me your heavy heart, take my hand and we'll go whistling in the dark," close to Matthew 11:28, and the song finishes on the chorus.