Two of the many great passages in the Bible that bring comfort and reassurance to the believer in times of distress are, first, here in Isaiah 41:8-10 where the Lord says this to His people.
8 But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, My friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
And such words of encouragement are even more thrilling to the soul here in Isaiah 43:1-5, where the Lord speaks words of comfort that assure us of His presence and providential care. Even in the most grievous and puzzling trials, He assures us that He loves us and will go with us through whatever trial we face; we will not be alone. The hymn “How Firm a Foundation” places Isaiah’s inspired words into a marvelous musical setting that closely follows the inspired words of the text.
1 But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.”
And those inspired words from Isaiah find a welcome home in our hearts through the words of the hymn, “How Firm a Foundation Ye Saints of the Lord.” This is a tremendously valuable resource to give strength to our hearts as we sing it to ourselves in times of distress. It might be the chronic pain of a debilitating disease, or the uncertainties of financial decline, or the loss of a cherished loved one, or even the ravages of war or the threats of wicked terrorist regimes. Whatever the challenge, we need to preach the gospel to ourselves, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones so often said. It is the gospel that, not because anything of merit in ourselves but solely because of His sovereign mercy and grace, and because of His irrevocable promise, He will never leave us or forsake us.
To think about having a solid foundation should also remind us of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount about the two men who built their homes on two different foundations. The fool built his house on the sand, so when the storms came, the winds and the waves beat against the house and washed it away. The wise man built his house on the rock, so when the storms came, his house stood strong. We all learned the song, along with the hand motions, as children. Jesus there in Matthew 7 said the issue was whether or not one built his life on Jesus’ words. And that’s the point in this hymn.
The authorship of this great hymn of the faith, “How Firm a Foundation,” is one of those mysteries of hymnody. When John Rippon (1751-1836), pastor of Carter Lane Baptist Church in London, published in 1787 “A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to be an Appendix to Dr. Watts Psalms and Hymns,” he included this hymn by listing the author only by the single letter “K—.” Hymnologist William Reynolds notes that the 1822 edition designated the author as “Kn,” and the 1835 edition of the collection indicated “Keen.” An 1844 edition ascribed authorship, probably incorrectly, to “Kirkham.” Robert Keene (or Keen), a close friend of Rippon’s, was the precenter (song leader) at the Carter Lane Church from 1776-1793. It is reasonable to assume that Keene assisted Rippon in preparing the compilation.
Keene wrote music, not lyrics, though he was often credited for both. But no hymn text in the early editions appears to have been written by Keene. Six tunes bear the attribution “R. Keene” or “Keene,” and logic would dictate that if Keene had written the text, this would also have been clearly indicated. It is safe to say that compilers of collections in the 18th and 19th centuries did not take the same care to assign authorship as we have come to expect in modern hymnals. We know that Rippon’s “Selection” was very popular, with 11 editions published in England and one in the U.S. in 1820, before his death in 1836. “How Firm a Foundation” was sung frequently in both the North and the South before the Civil War. It was a favorite hymn of Theodore Roosevelt. Andrew Jackson requested it be sung at his deathbed, and Robert E. Lee asked that it be sung at his funeral. It is also said that once, while conducting evening prayers in Princeton Seminary’s Oratory, Dr. Charles Hodge was so overcome with feeling during the last line of the hymn (“I’ll never, no never, no never forsake,” from Hebrews 13:5) that he could no longer sing, but only gesture the words.
The tune, FOUNDATION, appears in other famous American 19th-century collections such as “The Sacred Harp” (1844) and “Southern Harmony” (1854) with some melodic variations and with changes in harmony, but R.M. McIntosh’s “Tabor: or, the Richmond Collection of Sacred Music” (1866) provides us the present form found in most protestant hymnals. Some common independently published American hymnals from the 1950s and 60s instead often used the tune ADESTE FIDELIS, associated indelibly with “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
An interesting account of these lyrics bringing both comfort and unity in times of uncertainty is found in an anecdote from the Spanish-American war. This conflict came about 30 years after the end of the US Civil War, when tensions between the North and the South were still high. On Christmas Eve, 1898, it was sung by an entire corps of the United States Army encamped near Havana, Cuba. Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis Guild, Jr. related the inspiring story to “The Sunday-School Times” back in 1901. Guild wrote:
On Christmas eve of 1898 I sat before my tent in the balmy tropical night [near Havana] chatting with a fellow-officer of Christmas and home. Suddenly from the camp of the Forty-ninth Iowa rang a sentinel’s call, “Number ten; twelve o’clock, and all’s well!” It was Christmas morning. Scarcely had the cry of the sentinel died away, when from the bandsmen’s tents of that same regiment there rose the music of an old, familiar hymn, and one clear baritone voice led the chorus that quickly ran along those moonlit fields: ‘How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord!’
Another voice joined in, and another, and another, and in a moment the whole regiment was singing, and then the Sixth Missouri joined in, with the Fourth Virginia, and all the rest, till there, on the long ridges above the great city whence Spanish tyranny once went forth to enslave the New World, a whole American army corps was singing –
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed;
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.The Northern soldier knew the hymn as one he had learned beside his mother’s knee. To the Southern soldier it was that and something more; it was the favorite hymn of General Robert E. Lee, and was sung at that great commander’s funeral. Protestant and Catholic, North and South were singing together on Christmas day in the morning – now that’s an American army!
It was originally written with seven four-line stanzas. The first stanza identifies this as a hymn of promises directly from Jesus. Stanzas two through five appear as direct quotations from Jesus, though many scriptural allusions come from the Old Testament. Hymnologist Albert Bailey carried out a detailed scriptural analysis of the hymn. Stanza two quotes Isaiah 41:10 almost verbatim: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; year, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (KJV)
The final stanza draws upon several sources but is especially influenced by Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee…. He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Stanza 1 announces the theme as an encouragement for those troubled saints “who unto Jesus for refuge have fled.” It describes as saints all whose foundation is “laid for your faith in His excellent Word.” To all who are trusting in His saving work and in His comforting Word, they have access to all they need for whatever troubled times may come.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
Stanza 2 elaborates on those troubled times in language that will connect with every believer struggling to persevere in this sin-filled world. Whatever may come, He has promised not only to be with us, but to use these troubles as means to glorify Himself and to cause us to grow in holiness. He has promised that when additional strength is needed, He will give it. As Paul wrote from prison in Philippians 4, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And history has proven that He does that over and over again.
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Stanza 3 shifts to the words of the Lord Himself speaking to His precious people, whom He loves. Here is His own voice assuring us that we need not fear or be dismayed. And the wonderful basis for this assurance is that He is our God, and promises to give aid, to strengthen, to help, and to cause us to stand, “upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.” It is a hand which is not only strong enough to deliver us, but to do so in righteous ways that will exalt Him.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
Stanza 4 takes us to the place that is the most difficult for us to understand. When these times come, we must realize that He calls us to go there. But why? We find comfort not only in knowing that He will be with us, and will deliver us, but that out of sovereign love for us He has chosen to call us to walk through what may even feel like the valley of the shadow of death. But if He has called us to walk there, and promised to walk with us, we will trustingly go, remembering that He has promised “to sanctify to thee they deepest distress.”
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
Stanza 5 faces the reality of suffering that following Him may bring. Here is the language from Isaiah 43 that neither the fiery flame nor the deep water shall ultimately hurt us. This is the same God who in Romans 8:28 promised that He will cause all things to work together for good, His and ours, to those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose. The imagery of refining is one that we’re familiar with, as flame doesn’t always destroy, but sometimes makes more pure and beautiful. Times of trial, and even persecution, will burn away the dross and refine the gold. Shall we not trust this God who has given His own Son on the cross to redeem us, suffering even the wrath of the Father in our place,
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Stanza 6 looks ahead to those days yet to come, when age and health weaken us before the unique trials that lay ahead of us. But we can face them with the assurance that even then, when we will be at our weakest, His strength will be sufficient, in no way diminished. Even when “hoary hairs” shall adorn our temples, “like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.” He will be our Good Shepherd to the end … and beyond.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
Stanza 7 is a glorious conclusion, that makes one want to sing with full voice. Here is where we have placed our trust; here is where we have built our lives; here is where we have laid our foundation. These are the words that so thrill our hearts, so that in song we lift our praise to the heavens, perhaps even with tears in our eyes, and when our voice quivers with amazement and gratitude.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Here is a singing of the hymn arranged as an anthem with joyful accompaniment.