I Exalt Thee: The Story Behind the Song
How a young man’s private moment with God — and a song he almost never shared — became one of the most beloved worship anthems in church history
The Unfinished Chorus That Changed Everything
It was the end of a long night at a Christian songwriters’ gathering, and Pete Sanchez Jr. had already played his two best songs. The room had heard dozens of writers perform throughout the evening, and the host was wrapping things up. Almost as an afterthought, he turned to Pete and asked: “Do you have anything else before we close?”
Pete hesitated. He had one more thing — but he wasn’t sure it counted. “I have this unfinished little chorus,” he said. “Let’s hear it,” the host replied.
So Pete sat at the piano and began to play and sing something simple, something he had been turning over in private for months — something he had never intended for anyone else’s ears:
“For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth…Thou art exalted far above all gods…”
And then came the chorus:
“I exalt Thee… I exalt Thee… I exalt Thee, O Lord!”
Something happened in that room that Pete Sanchez later described as an “out of body experience.” The entire gathering — every songwriter, every musician present — rose to their feet. Hands went up. The room filled with worship. Nobody asked. Nobody prompted them. They simply couldn’t stay seated.
The unfinished little chorus had found its congregation. And it would never be just Pete’s again.
Pete Sanchez Jr.: A Man Called Back to the Psalms
To understand “I Exalt Thee,” you have to understand the unusual circumstances that produced it. Pete Sanchez Jr. was, by his mid-twenties, already an accomplished Christian musician. He had served as a music director, a youth director, and a touring musician with a Christian group called One Song. By any measure of ministry career, he was doing well.
But Pete was newly married and wrestling with something personal. He had come from a divorced family — a wound that cut deep — and he was determined above all else to be a good husband and a good father. The ministry career, the performance, the platform — none of it mattered if his home fell apart. So he made a quiet, deliberate decision: he withdrew from active ministry.
He turned instead to the Psalms. Not as a songwriter looking for raw material, but as a man looking for God. His plan was straightforward: he would meditate on each psalm, one by one, and write a song that expressed what he found. It was a private discipline — a daily act of devotion between him and the Lord, with no audience in mind and no publication planned.
He worked his way through the psalter slowly, prayerfully. And then he arrived at Psalm 97:9.
The Verse That Stopped Him Cold
Psalm 97:9, in the King James Version that Pete was reading, reads:
“For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.”
The verse stopped him. Something about it felt immense — not just as poetry, but as a declaration of reality. This was not a polite religious sentiment. This was a cosmological claim: that the God of Israel towers above every power, every competing claim, every false god that has ever seduced a human heart. The word translated “exalted” in Hebrew is nā’lāh — to be lifted up to an incomparable height, to be set apart as supreme.
Pete went to his piano. A melody came quickly — but only part of a song. He had a verse, but no chorus. He had a declaration about God, but no personal response to it. The song felt incomplete, unresolved, like a question without an answer.
He set it aside. He came back to it. He set it aside again. For the next 18 months, he kept returning to those opening lines, unable to finish what he had started. Later, he would explain it simply: “The only way I can explain it is, in that moment, it seemed like I stepped into another place… it was a divine encounter.” The chorus — “I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, O Lord” — finally came. Not as clever songwriting. As response. As worship that had been waiting for its moment.
He copyrighted the song in 1976. And then, for years, he kept it mostly to himself.
Lyrical Analysis: What the Song Says and Why It Matters
The Verse — God’s Absolute Supremacy
For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth;
Thou art exalted far above all gods.
These two lines are not metaphor — they are theological assertion drawn verbatim from Psalm 97:9. The psalmist is speaking into a world full of competing gods: the Baals of Canaan, the gods of Egypt, the idols of every nation surrounding Israel. His claim is total and uncompromising: none of them come close. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the strongest among many strong gods — He is exalted far above all of them, in a category entirely His own.
The phrase “high above all the earth” also establishes God’s transcendence — He is not contained within creation, not subject to its limitations. He reigns from a position that is, by definition, above every earthly throne, every human power, every circumstance that threatens to feel larger than it is. This is the theological ground on which the rest of the song stands.
Psalm 97 as a whole is a royal coronation psalm — a song celebrating God’s kingship over the whole earth. It opens with “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice!” It describes His throne founded on righteousness and justice, clouds and darkness surrounding Him, fire going before Him, lightning illuminating the world. Verse 9 is its climactic declaration: after all the drama of the preceding verses, the conclusion is this — above everything, it is the Lord who is exalted.
The Chorus — From Declaration to Devotion
I exalt Thee!
I exalt Thee!
I exalt Thee, O Lord!
I exalt Thee!
I exalt Thee!
I exalt Thee, O Lord!
This is where the song pivots from theology to participation. The verse tells us who God is. The chorus asks: now what will you do with that? It is an act of the will — “I exalt Thee” — not a passive observation. The worshipper is choosing, actively and repeatedly, to lift God above everything else in their life, above every competing priority, every alternative source of security and worth.
The repetition is not redundancy — it is liturgy. The six-fold “I exalt Thee” builds like a wave, each declaration reinforcing the one before it, until the act of exaltation becomes something felt as much as said. This is the ancient logic of Hebrew poetry: not to convey information with each repetition, but to immerse the singer deeper and deeper into the reality being declared.
The word “exalt” itself — from the Latin exaltare, meaning “to raise up high” — is a strong, physical-sounding word. It implies active lifting, not passive acknowledgment. You don’t accidentally exalt someone. You make a choice. You set them in a position of honor. Every time the chorus is sung, the worshipper is consciously repositioning God above themselves, above their circumstances, above every competing claim on their allegiance.
The Structural Genius of Simplicity
One of the most fascinating things about “I Exalt Thee” — noted by worship scholars and music ministers alike — is that most of the Christian world only ever learned the chorus. The verse, which provides the entire theological foundation for the chorus’s declaration, became largely invisible as the song migrated into congregational worship. As one observer noted, this is both its greatest strength and its most significant vulnerability.
The strength: a six-word chorus that anyone can learn in thirty seconds has the power to unite an entire congregation, regardless of background or musical ability, in a single act of worship. The vulnerability: without the verse, “I exalt Thee” could become a worship reflex rather than a worship conviction — a song you sing because it sounds beautiful, rather than a song you sing because you have first been staggered by the reality it proclaims.
Pete Sanchez designed both parts to work together. The verse provides the theological argument; the chorus provides the personal response. Sung together, they form a complete arc of worship: behold who God is, then respond to who He is. That arc — statement followed by surrender — is the heartbeat of biblical praise throughout the Psalter.
Timeline: The Life of a Song
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Pete Sanchez Jr. writes the verse of “I Exalt Thee” during a personal Psalms devotional study, based on Psalm 97:9 |
| 1975–1976 | Over 18 months, Pete keeps returning to the unfinished song until the chorus finally arrives in a moment he calls a “divine encounter” |
| 1976 | Pete copyrights “I Exalt Thee” |
| Mid-1970s | At a Christian songwriters’ gathering, Pete reluctantly shares the “unfinished chorus” — the entire room rises in spontaneous worship; he later receives a cassette of the song being sung in 10 languages |
| 1983 | Trumpeter and gospel singer Phil Driscoll records “I Exalt Thee” as the title track of his album on Sparrow Records; the album receives a Grammy nomination for Best Male Gospel Performance |
| 1984 | Phil Driscoll wins the GMA Dove Award for Instrumentalist of the Year largely on the strength of the album |
| 1986 | Pete Sanchez Jr. releases his own worship album I Exalt Thee! on Integrity’s Hosanna! Music label — further cementing the song in the praise and worship movement |
| 1987–1990s | Integrity’s Hosanna! Music distributes the song globally through its direct-mail worship series; it becomes a staple of charismatic and evangelical worship worldwide |
| 1990s | Petra records the song; it enters the CCM mainstream and is sung in churches across denominations |
| 1998 | Phil Driscoll re-records the album as I Exalt Thee: 1998 under his own label, adding new tracks |
| 2000s | Hillsong Worship incorporates “I Exalt Thee” into live worship sets; Gateway Worship features Pete Sanchez in a Song Story teaching series |
| 2022 | Gateway Worship releases a full “I Exalt Thee Song Story” video featuring Dr. Pete Sanchez telling the origin story |
| 2024 | Dr. Pete Sanchez visits Mill City Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, personally sharing the story behind the song nearly 50 years after writing it |
| 2025 | Pete Sanchez receives a Distinguished Alumni Award; “I Exalt Thee” continues to be sung globally in countless languages |
Phil Driscoll and the Song That Found the World
For nearly a decade after Pete Sanchez wrote “I Exalt Thee,” the song existed in a relatively small orbit — beloved by those who encountered it, but not yet globally known. That changed in 1983 when Phil Driscoll — a Grammy-winning trumpeter and gospel vocalist who had played with Blood, Sweat & Tears before his conversion — recorded it as the title track of his Sparrow Records album.
Driscoll’s version was extraordinary. His trumpet playing elevated the song into something majestically orchestral, and his powerful gospel voice gave the simple chorus an emotional weight that matched its theological depth. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Male Gospel Performance and won Driscoll the 1984 GMA Dove Award for Instrumentalist of the Year. Suddenly, “I Exalt Thee” was being heard by millions of people who had never encountered Pete Sanchez.
This pattern — a song written in obscurity, released quietly, then catapulted into global worship through a single high-profile recording — is one that echoes throughout church music history. But what makes “I Exalt Thee” particularly remarkable is what happened next: it did not remain a CCM radio hit. It migrated into the pews and became a congregational anthem — a song that ordinary people in ordinary churches around the world could sing together and mean.
Integrity’s Hosanna! Music and the Global Spread
The song’s deepest penetration into the global church came through Integrity’s Hosanna! Music — the pioneering worship music label founded in 1985 that became the primary vehicle for distributing praise and worship music directly to churches through a subscription model. Pete Sanchez Jr. was not merely a songwriter in this ecosystem — he became an integral part of it, eventually serving as Vice President and Dean of the Integrity Worship Institute.
Through Hosanna! Music’s direct-to-church cassette and CD series, “I Exalt Thee” reached denominations and traditions that might never have heard it through CCM radio — Pentecostal churches in Africa, Baptist congregations in South America, charismatic fellowships across Asia. Pete Sanchez later recalled receiving a cassette of the song being sung in ten different languages, sent to him by a missionary who had carried it to the ends of the earth. The man who withdrew from ministry to protect his family had, through one act of private devotion, reached more people than most full-time ministers ever would.
Sanchez went on to become Executive Pastor of Worship for New Life Church in Colorado Springs and a professor of worship at multiple universities in the United States and Belgium — a career of remarkable breadth built, in part, on the foundation of a song he almost didn’t share.
Legacy and Modern Worship
“I Exalt Thee” occupies a unique place in the history of modern Christian worship. It was not born in a recording studio, a church growth movement, or a worship conference. It was born in a man’s apartment, in a season of deliberate withdrawal, in a private act of biblical meditation. That origin gives it a character that is different from many worship songs written for a stage and a sound system — it is, at its core, a song of intimacy and surrender.
Over the last four decades, it has been recorded and performed by artists spanning the entire spectrum of Christian music, from Phil Driscoll’s orchestral gospel to Petra’s rock arrangements, from Hillsong’s stadium worship to quiet acoustic renditions at small-group Bible studies. Gateway Worship has featured it extensively in their training resources. Hillsong Worship has incorporated it into their live sets. Countless churches around the world include it in weekly worship without knowing anything about the man who wrote it or the story behind it.
Notable Recordings and Covers
| Artist | Recording / Context | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Phil Driscoll | Title track, I Exalt Thee (Sparrow Records); Grammy nominated | 1983 |
| Pete Sanchez Jr. | I Exalt Thee! album, Integrity’s Hosanna! Music | 1986 |
| Petra | Recorded and performed widely through the CCM era | 1990s |
| Phil Driscoll | I Exalt Thee: 1998 — re-recorded album with bonus tracks | 1998 |
| Hillsong Worship | Featured in live worship sets globally; medley with “A Thousand Hallelujahs” | 2000s–present |
| Gateway Worship | Song Story teaching series featuring Pete Sanchez Jr. | 2022 |
| Various artists | Sung in 10+ languages across six continents in churches of every denomination | Ongoing |
The Man Who Almost Kept It to Himself
There is a haunting quality to the origin story of “I Exalt Thee” that deserves a moment of reflection. Pete Sanchez Jr. wrote this song with no intention of sharing it. He considered it unfinished. He thought it was too small — just a private chorus, not a real song. When he finally did share it, it was only because someone pressed him at the last moment, at the end of a long night, when he was the last person at the microphone.
This is one of the recurring patterns in the history of great worship songs: the writer almost didn’t write it, almost didn’t finish it, almost didn’t share it. The song that transforms millions begins in obscurity, reluctance, or apparent incompleteness. The songwriter who thinks they have nothing to offer turns out to have the very thing the room — and eventually the world — needed to hear.
Pete Sanchez withdrew from ministry to be a good husband and father. He did not withdraw to write a worship anthem. He withdrew to be faithful in a small, private, unglamorous way — meditating on the Psalms, one by one, day by day. The song came as a byproduct of that faithfulness. It was not manufactured. It was discovered, the way you discover something that was already there, waiting to be found.
He said the only way he could explain the moment the chorus finally came was that he had stepped into another place. For those who have sung “I Exalt Thee” in worship and felt that same displacement — that sudden, overwhelming sense of standing before something infinitely larger than yourself — his description rings true. The song doesn’t just describe that experience. It transports you into it.
Why This Song Still Moves Us
Nearly fifty years after Pete Sanchez wrote “I Exalt Thee” in the quiet of his apartment, the song continues to be sung in churches around the world, in languages its author could never have imagined, by people whose names he will never know. The reasons for its endurance are not mysterious.
First, it is rooted directly in Scripture. Every word of the verse is drawn from Psalm 97:9 — not paraphrased, not interpreted, but lifted almost verbatim from the ancient text. When you sing “I Exalt Thee,” you are singing the Bible. That gives the song an authority and a resonance that no amount of clever songwriting can manufacture.
Second, it does something theologically essential: it places God in His proper position before the worshipper enters anything else. Before petitions. Before problems. Before praise for what God has done. “I Exalt Thee” begins with who God is — exalted, supreme, high above all the earth — and invites the worshipper to orient their entire life around that reality. This is what theologians call doxology: starting with God, not with our needs.
Third — and perhaps most powerfully — the song carries the weight of its own origin story. Every time it is sung, it is, in some sense, the continuation of that night at the songwriters’ gathering when an entire room rose to its feet without being asked. The worship that began in Pete Sanchez’s apartment, spilled into that gathering, traveled around the world in ten languages, and continues to echo in churches everywhere — has never stopped. It simply keeps spreading, one voice at a time, one congregation at a time, finding its way into hearts that are ready to say, with everything they have:
I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee, O Lord.
Pete Sanchez Jr. founded Gabriel Music Incorporated in 1991, a music publishing company named after the biblical angel. He served for many years as Executive Pastor of Worship at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and as a professor of worship at universities in both the United States and Belgium. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree. “I Exalt Thee,” written in 1975 and copyrighted in 1976, remains one of the most widely sung worship songs in the history of the modern church.
