The summer and winter Olympic games draw the attention of the entire world every four years. Thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries who have trained very hard for many years gather to compete in challenging sporting events in the water and on land and snow, and in the case of some skiing winter events, even in the air! We watch with amazement at the skills demonstrated by these champions, celebrating with them as teams or individuals from our own country win medals. And we have only a slight understanding of the rigorous discipline that was required in strenuous training to reach these levels of expertise.
This hymn study is being written for the weekend on which the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics is launched. Day after day, people from around the globe will tune in on their television sets and computers to watch broadcasts of one event after another, hoping to hear their national anthem played at the awarding of medals. What will impress us will be their speed, their endurance, their focus, their determination, and their joy when they have succeeded in their competition. None of us can imagine that we could ever do what phenomenal things they do with their bodies, especially as we age (hopefully graciously!). When our team members win, we share their ecstasy.
As we watch these Olympic games as Christians, we ought to take note of the way these are an illustration of a kind of spiritual Olympics in which we are all competing, and will all receive a prize. We are running a spiritual race, as Paul described it in 1 Corinthians 9:24. He was on death row in Rome when he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7 that he had finished his race. And the Holy Spirit, through the author of Hebrews, tells us, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
And as there are rewards for athletes in the Olympics, gold silver and bronze, there are rewards for believers. But unlike in the Olympics in which there are only a few who win the prize, in the Christian life a great reward is there for every single believer who perseveres to the end in faith. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And in 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul wrote, Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.
We have a fine hymn that conveys this sense of Olympic-like effort. It is “Awake, My Soul, Stretch Every Nerve,” by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), published posthumously in 1755. Born in London the youngest of twenty children, he belonged to the Nonconformist Church, meaning he was not a part of the Anglican Church of England. The members of such churches were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Nonconformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Nonconformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself.
Two hundred pupils in all, gathered from England, Scotland and Holland, were prepared in his seminary, chiefly for the dissenting ministry, but partly for professions. The wide range of subjects, including daily readings in Hebrew and Greek, Algebra, Trigonometry, Watts’ Logic, outline of Philosophy, and copious Divinity, is itself a proof of Doddridge’s learning. He was presented with his D.D. degree by the University of Aberdeen. His fame as a divine, combined with his wide sympathies and gentle, unaffected goodness, won for him the friendship of Isaac Watts, among others. He welcomed the work of Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, and entertained the latter on his visit to Northampton. He is remembered best today for his book “Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul,” which was very influential in the spiritual life of John Newton.
In addition to his paternal grandfather who was among the independents expelled from their churches in 1662 because of the Act of Uniformity, Doddridge’s maternal grandfather was a Lutheran minister in Prague, Bohemia, who was exiled because of his faith and came to London to escape persecution. Eighteen of his brothers and sisters had died in infancy, and poor health plagued him from childhood throughout his life. In addition, his parents died in 1715 when he was only a young boy. After this he declined an offer from the Duchess of Bedford for a Cambridge or Oxford University education to prepare him for the ministry in the Church of England, and since his family had been Congregationalists, he enrolled in a Nonconformist academy at Kibworth. Eventually, he became one of the most influential leaders among the independent churches of England.
Doddridge preached his first sermon at the age of twenty and began serving as a minister at Kibworth. In 1729, at the age of 27, he became minister of the Castle Hill Congregational Chapel where he continued for 22 years and also operated a Nonconformist school. In 1730 he married Mercy Marris, and in 1736 the University of Aberdeen conferred upon him the D. D. degree. In addition, he was a voluminous writer and authored many theological works, including a commentary on the New Testament entitled “The Family Expositor.” His best-known hymn is “O Happy Day,” and a few of his other hymns have appeared in some hymnals, such as “Grace! ‘Tis a Charming Sound” with a tune by Thomas Clark, and “O God of Bethel” set to a tune by Johann Michael Haydn. Most of them were based directly on scripture and produced in the 1730’s and 40’s, with perhaps a few around 1750.
Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, hoping that the warmer climate would provide a cure, he is reputed to have said, “I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Northampton.” He died at the young age of 47 in Lisbon three weeks after his arrival, on October 25th, 1751, his tuberculosis and exhaustion having overwhelmed him. Doddridge wrote some four hundred hymn texts, generally to accompany his sermons. These hymns were published posthumously in 1755 by his friend Job Orton in “Hymns, Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures.” By the time several later editions had been published, the collection had grown to 375 hymns. Relatively few are sung today. “Awake, My Soul, Stretch Every Nerve” had been produced probably around 1750 to be read as a poem after Doddridge’s sermon on Philippians 3:12-14, and was first published posthumously four years after Doddridge’s death in Orton’s 1755 collection.
Just as in Psalm 103, the text has the singer talking to him/herself. We think of the admonition in Hebrews 12 about running the race with endurance, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Our Olympic competition is underway. And we have the assurance that the captain of our salvation has already successfully completed the race set before Him, and He has promised to carry us all the way home (Philippians 1:6). Doddridge’s hymn text is filled with scriptural allusions. Surely this is one of the most important characteristics that is found in the best hymns, as it enables us to sing God’s own words. So notice how much scripture you sing when you add this to your worship vocabulary.
Stanza 1 emphasizes the direction of the race. To run this race, we must “press with vigor on” that we might go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1, Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God). It is a heavenly race because our hope is in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time). And the ultimate goal is an immortal crown (2 Timothy 4:6-8, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing).
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on;
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
Stanza 2 emphasizes the witnesses of the race. This cloud of witnesses is the great host of the faithful who have gone before and left us their example (Hebrews 12:1-2, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God). With these witnesses in full survey, we should forget the steps already trod (Philippians 3:13-14, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus). The use of words like “vigor” and “urge” suggest the zeal with which we should approach this race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified).
A cloud of witnesses around
Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
Stanza 3 emphasizes the calling of this race. God’s all-animating voice calls us through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ). Therefore, it will be His own hand who presents the prize when we are crowned as we strive for the masteries (2 Timothy 2:5, An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules). And, of course, this is precisely that which we aspire or hope for and which keeps us going (Romans 8:24-25, For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience).
‘Tis God’s all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high;
‘Tis His own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye.
Stanza 4 emphasizes the eternal consequences of this race. The prize which God offers has glories bright which boast ever-new luster, because it represents eternal life (Titus 1:1-2, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began). Thus, it is far superior to victors’ wreaths and monarchs’ gems (Hebrews 11:26, He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward). Why? because these things are only temporal, compared to God’s reward which is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal).
That prize, with peerless glories bright,
Which shall new luster boast
When victors’ wreaths and monarchs’ gems
Shall blend in common dust.
Stanza 5 emphasizes the goal of this race. The only one who can introduce us to this race is the Savior, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 1:15, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost). Again, the goal, the prize for which we seek, is to be crowned with victory: 1 Corinthians 15:57, But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ). And at that time, we shall lay our honors down at His feet, as did the twenty-four elders (Revelation 4:9-11, And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”).
Blest Savior, introduced by Thee,
Have I my race begun;
And crowned with victory at Thy feet
I’ll lay my honors down.
The tune usually used with this text (CHRISTMAS) was composed by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759). It originally appeared as a soprano aria in Acts II of his 1728 opera (“Cyrus”). The adaptation as a hymn tune was made originally for Psalm 132 in the 1815 “Melodia Sacra,” possibly by the editor David Weyman (19th century). However, some sources say that it was previously adapted in the 1812 “Harmonia Sacra” compiled by James Hewitt. The music was further arranged into its present form in the 1821 “Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music” by the editor, famous American church musician Lowell Mason (1792-1872).
Here is a link to the singing of the hymn.