Redman wrote the song with a Swedish friend of his, Jonas Myrin, with whom he’s collaborated with on a number of other occasions. Redman recalled the writing of the song to Worship Leader Magazine. “He played me an idea for some of the chorus melody, and I found it immediately inspiring. In fact, it felt like a perfect fit for a song based on the opening of Psalm 103. The song came together really quickly – a good chunk of the song was actually a spontaneous moment. I have no idea why some songs take months of writing and re-writing (like ‘Blessed Be Your Name’) and others arrive really swiftly (like this one). One thing I’ve realized over the years is there’s no distinct rule that says that something composed quickly must therefore be more spiritual or inspired! Yes, God-breathed inspired worship songs can at times be written very quickly and spontaneously—but at other times they’ve involved a lot of perseverance, perspiration, and hard work!”

David lists in Psalm 103 several reasons why his heart is full of worship for God; He forgives our sins, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires and gives righteousness and justice. So Redman and Myrin made a list of their own, noting they were barely scratching the surface of God’s worth. “The point behind the song is this,” explained Redman to Worship Leader Magazine. “If you wake up one morning and you cannot think of a reason to bring God some kind of offering of thanks or praise, then you can be sure there’s something wrong at your end of the pipeline, and not his. We live beneath an unceasing flow of goodness, kindness, greatness, and holiness, and every day we’re given reason after reason why Jesus is so completely and utterly worthy of our highest and best devotion.”

The 10,000 reasons of the title echoes the “10,000 years” of “Amazing Grace.” “We already had the ‘10,000 reasons’ lyric in verse two,” explained Redman. “So when it got to writing verse three, and we were on the theme of eternity, the idea came to mirror that ‘10,000’ number and at the same time give a nod to the old hymn. I think that mirroring device is something I’d learned from listening to country music—Carrie Underwood’s ‘Temporary Home‘ and Blake Shelton’s ‘The Baby‘ are great (and more skilful!) examples of that. These songs have lyrical hooks, with a twist. As songwriters we can think so much about including melodic and musical hooks, which is really important, but we mustn’t underestimate the impact of a lyrical hook too. It’s a great songwriting device, but it’s also a really helpful congregational one—making a song more instant and easy to grab on to.” – Songfacts