Hillsong Church's Pastor Robert Fergusson has committed to praising God continuously even when it hurts, and he candidly explains why.
In Hillsong's new album called Empires, there's a new track with lyrics that go: "Even when it hurts like hell, I'll praise you." Fergusson and his wife Amanda's job is to check all the songs published by Hillsong before they are released, and even though he suspects a lot of eyebrows will be raised due to that line, he is standing by it.
"We live in a desperately broken world. Occasionally, it feels as if hell itself has been unleashed. Of course, we know our victory and safety is in Christ, but it still hurts," he explained in the Hillsong blog. "The psalmists were never afraid to express their true feelings to God in their laments and and I don't think we should be either."
Fergusson said that their hearts have always been in the right place - that is to help people worship God and enable them to sing the truth. And that is exactly what they hope to achieve in the new album Empires.
In the past, Fergusson recalls getting e-mails from people who were not pleased with the songs released by Hillsong.
"Our role in this process (which is not perfect) has meant that Amanda and I have been both commended (great) and criticised (not so great) for songs we have never written," he shared.
They are more than happy to take a few hits for the team but occasionally, some criticisms can become quite unpleasant, and Fergusson hopes that they are still gracious when they give out this response to those who have expressed their displeasure: "If you don't like our song, please feel free not to sing it."
