Our Church sings a song written by Chris Tomlin called “Praise Him Forever.” I must be honest; it is one of my new favorite worship songs. While I love the tempo and how easy it is to learn, the words are always the critical part. This song contains a line that I had never heard before in all my years in Church. It is important to sing with understanding, so I want to spend a minute to dissect the phrase. The line is, “Hear the holy roar.”

The concept of hearing a holy roar comes from the idea that one form of praise is shouting with a loud voice. The picture is of a person standing and shouting their praise loudly to God, focusing less on a melody and more on volume. This shows I am giving God all my emotions, voice, and energy. For one person to do this would sound loud and awkward, but when a group does it together, it will become a roar to those in the distance.

I have been to an NFL football game in Arrowhead stadium here in Kansas City. It is one of the loudest stadiums in the world. When the team takes the field or scores, you can make out the shouts of the people next to you, but not everyone. The noise just blends into a roar of praise. This is the idea behind the statement. We are not shouting our praises to a team, but rather the God of heaven in a holy and pure way.

When the people of God stand together and sing, sometimes it is quiet reverence, other times a beautiful melody of blended voices, and still other times it is a holy roar as people praise him with a loud voice.