America’s 2024 national election involved candidates and parties at many levels of government: President and Vice President, Senators, Representatives, state and local officials, and numerous amendments (included abortion and marijuana). The political season preceding it was filled with sometimes extremely harsh rhetoric, interruptions from television commercials, and a seemingly never-ending delivery of campaign flyers in our mailboxes.
The result of the election, especially at the presidential level, caused relief and euphoria for some and inconsolable sorrow and anger for others. Sadly, some candidates who claimed to be Christians fell far short of demonstrating the virtues associated with the fruit of the Spirit. Having witnessed that, one of the reactions that should become even more present now is not only prayer for the nation, but also prayer for those candidates whose rhetoric and attitude showed a need for divinely-given repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.
As Christians voted, most had deeply held convictions that shaped their selections at the ballot box. And these varied, with some choosing on candidate and party, and others, even family members, divided as the selected the opposite. So how should Christians on both sides be reacting now? Certainly there should be no hostility between those with whom there was disagreement. At this (and every) point, the biblical goal should be not unity (we still hold opposing convictions), but harmony (respecting those with whom we disagreed).
Most importantly, the reaction for all of us must be prayer. There was never any doubt as to whether or not God’s will would be accomplished. We cannot know what His will is for tomorrow, but we can know with certainty what His will was for yesterday. He works all things according to His perfect sovereign design (Ephesians 1:11), so whatever happens is what He has ordained. We also cannot know His proximate purposes; only His ultimate purpose is clear: that He does all things for His glory. As Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”
So what are we to do now? Pray! Seek His counsel, His protection, His presence, His guidance, and His control of the decisions that are to be made by those who have been ele3cted to positions of government. That’s what God Himself has told us to do in 2 Timothy 2:1-4, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Most hymnals will have a topical section about the nation. We turn there around July 4th and other patriotic seasons on the calendar. Notice how many of those hymns appropriately are not in praise of the nation, but in thanksgiving and petition toward God.
We have much for which to be thankful to God … the freedoms of speech and the press we enjoy, the ability to choose our own leaders, the economic prosperity that gives us comfortable homes, the educational and vocational possibilities for our children, and certainly the fact that we can gather and worship and openly proclaim our faith.
But there are also many things that cause us to turn to the Lord to ask for His mercy … the injustice that too many people experience, the material poverty that leads to misery physically and emotionally, the horrible blight of the abortion of millions of unborn children, the countless deaths from drug overdoses, the threat from criminal activity, the corruption of public officials, the
The reason for our blessings does not lie in ourselves; these are not of our own doing. And in the same way the answer to our problems does not lie in ourselves; these cannot be of our undoing. No, it is to the Lord that we who know Him will always turn to express our thanksgivings and petitions. At the time of national elections, we certainly need to remind ourselves and others that our thanks and hopes cannot be placed in any human leaders. No political party or economic policy or military action … and definitely no single candidate, however popular and promising and widely acclaimed! … must ever be where we place our hope.
Our hope must always be solely in the Lord who alone is sovereign and who has promised never to leave us or forsake us, and to cause all things to work together for His glory and for our ultimate good. To turn to anything or anyone other than Him would be a form of idolatry. This was the sin from which the Lord repeatedly urged His people to turn throughout the Old Testament, and was the ultimate reason for their downfall in discipline.
So what do we have available to us in worship in our hymnals to express that single-minded hope and trust? One fine resource is the hymn “Great King of Nations, Hear Our Prayer, written in 1838 by John Hampden Gurney (1802-1862). He was born the son of Sir John Gurney, Baron of the Exchequer/ in Serjeant’s Inn, Fleet Street, London, England. Educated in Surrey and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he graduated there in 1824, going on to earn his M.A. in 1827. He was an active supporter of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), an effective Anglican missionary endeavor that touched many places in the British empire. That was just one of several religious societies for which he was earnest.
His ministry included serving as Curate of St. Mary’s Church, Lutterworth (1824-1844), Rector of St. Mary’s Church, Marylebone, in central London between Regent’s Park and Hyde Park, and Prebendary of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral. His published writings included “Church Psalmody: Hints for the Improvement of a Collection of Hymns” (1853), known as the “Lutterworth Collection,” and “Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship, Selected for Some of the Churches of Marylebone” (1851) known as his “Marylebone Collection.” He died in London in 1862 and was buried in the Gurney family vault on the west side of Highgate Cemetery.
This hymn study is a good opportunity to learn a bit about the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), which is an important chapter in the history of missions and evangelism. Based in the United Kingdom, it was founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, and so has worked for over 300 years to spread the Christian faith in the UK and worldwide. It is the oldest Anglican mission organization in the world, though it has become more ecumenical in doctrine and focus, alongside the Anglican Church which has compromised the gospel in critical doctrinal integrity in recent decades. It remains the leading publisher of Christian books in the United Kingdom.
On March 8, 1698, Rev. Thomas Bray met a small group of friends at Lincoln’s Inn. These men were concerned by what they saw as the “growth in vice and immorality” in England at the time, which they believed was owing to the “gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion.” They were also committed to promoting “religion and learning in the plantations abroad.” They resolved to meet regularly to devise strategies to increase their knowledge of Anglican Christianity. They decided that these aims could best be achieved by publishing and distributing Christian literature and encouraging Christian education at all levels.
The SPCK sought to tackle a number of social and political issues of the time. It actively campaigned for penal reform, provided for the widows and children of clergy who died while overseas, and provided basic education for slaves in the Caribbean. One of the key priorities for Bray and his friends was to build libraries in market towns. In its first two hundred years, the Society founded many charity schools for poor children aged seven through eleven 7-11. The Society also provided treacher training.
The SPCK has worked overseas since its foundation. The initial focus was the British colonies in the Americas. Libraries were established for the use of clergy and their parishioners, and books were frequently shipped across the Atlantic throughout the 18th century. In 1709, SPCK sent a printing press and trained printer to East India to assist in the production of the first translation of the Bible into Tamil.
As the British Empire grew in the 19th century, SPCK supported the planting of new churches around the world. Funds were provided for church buildings, schools, theological training colleges, and to provide chaplains for the ships taking emigrants to their new homes. While the SPCK supported the logistics of church planting and provided resources for theological learning, by the 19th century it did not often send missionaries overseas. Instead, this work was passed to other organizations.
Throughout the twentieth century, the SPCK offered support to ordination candidates in the Anglican church. These were men and women in training to become priests in the Church of England, who had fallen upon hard times and may have otherwise been unable to continue their studies. From its earliest days, the SPCK commissioned tracts and pamphlets, making it the third-oldest publishing house in England. Throughout the 18th century, SPCK was by far the largest producer of Christian literature in Britain. The range of its output was considerable – from pamphlets aimed at specific groups such as farmers, prisoners, soldiers, seamen, servants and slave-owners, to more general works on subjects such as baptism, confirmation, Holy Communion, the Prayer Book, and private devotion. The SPCK merged with InterVarsity Press (IVP) in 2015. IVP maintains its own board of trustees and editorial board. Well-known authors for IVP have included F. F. Bruce, John Stott, Edmund Clowney, Don Carson, J. I. Packer, Marva Dawn, James Montgomery Boice, and Kelly Kapic.
Returning to the theme of this hymn study, whenever the subject of elections comes to our mind, whether before the election as we are tempted to be anxious about the outcome, or after the election when we are just as susceptible to be anxious about the results, the reaction of believers must always be turn to turn away from our fears and uncertainties, and to turn to the one thing that is absolutely certainly, “God works all things according to the design of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Didn’t Jesus teach us in praying to call out to “Our Father, who art in heaven,” whose name is always to be kept holy, asking that “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” If Jesus wants us to seek that from Him, shouldn’t we be quicker to lift up our hearts to Him and pray for that very thing? And isn’t an election cycle a time in which that should differentiate us from the secularists around us?
Scripture teaches us that our God is constantly active in His world. We are not deists who think that God sits by passively, distant from the world He created, just watching to see what happens, never taking an active role in controlling and directing the affairs of men and nations, never guiding for His purposes what happens in history. No, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the God of history. And so, when we are dealing with all matters relating to an election, we cry out, individually and corporately, “Great King of Nations, Hear Our Prayer.” And our God not only hears; He answers.
The tone of the hymn resembles the humble laments we find in the inspired Psalms. These are not words of exuberant praise, but rather of earnest petition; words that call to a God not only of power, but also of mercy.
Stanza 1 begins with our approach to the throne of God, a throne of grace where we find mercy, as we read in Hebrews 4:16. The title given to God is a most encouraging one, given the nature of our request. This is not just the God of some small denomination, or even country. He is the “Great King of nations!” What boldness that should give us as we come to Him. Notice the plural references, “our,” “we,” and “united.” This prayer comes from the whole body of the elect, offered in corporate worship.
Great King of nations, hear our prayer,
while at Your feet we fall,
and humbly, with united cry,
to You for mercy call.
Stanza 2 acknowledges the fact that we do not deserve and kindness from the Lord in response to our prayers. Much of the sorrow we experience in life, and in our nation, is because of the sinful dimensions of rebellion against God and His standards of justice and righteousness that are true about our modern secular culture which has taken such a hostile, anti-God stance in modern times. This is especially true when we look at matters of identity, sexuality, and the sanctity of life and marriage. In this stanza we sing, “The guilt is ours.” But we pray with hope since we know that “grace is Yours.” God’s lofty throne is a throne of grace.
The guilt is ours, but grace is Yours,
O turn us not away;
but hear us from Your lofty throne,
and help us when we pray.
Stanza 3 contrasts what we deserve with what we receive. This is at the heart of the gospel of grace. It’s what we find in Psalm 103, of a God who moves our sins as far as the eats is from the west, and does not treat us as we deserve, but has compassion on us. “Our fathers’ sins were manifold,” and we can list them in dark detail. But “ours no less we own,” as we added our own sins to theirs. “Yet wondrously from age to age Your goodness has been shown.” It truly is wonderous, isn’t it, that God continues to act toward us with sch goodness? Every day should be filled with reminders of how gracious He is in His nature, and in His acts toward us.
Our fathers’ sins were manifold,
and ours no less we own,
yet wondrously from age to age
Your goodness has been shown.
Stanza 4 returns our attention to the things we have to deal with every day in this sin-filled world, everything from inflation and disease to the threat of war and governmental incompetence. Gurney has described our cultural climate as filled with “dangers, like a stormy sea” that surround us. It brings to mind the night that Jesus came to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a terrifying storm. As the wind whipped up the waves to dangerous heights, threatening to capsize their boat, Jesus approached them calmly walking on the water. And as the disciples were delivered safely to shore, even so, when we look to Jesus in our storms, we will find help in the one who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
When dangers, like a stormy sea,
beset our country round,
to You we looked, to You we cried,
and help in You was found.
Stanza 5 introduces another, very important dynamic to our situation. While we cannot directly connect any specific pain to a sin we have committed, there is a general connection between sin and suffering. Job’s friends mistakenly attributed his enormous losses to something he must have done to anger God. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Who sinned; this man or His parents?” thye made the same mistake. But all of our suffering is the direct result of sin in our world and our hearts. And there are definitely times when God’s heavy hand comes on us in loving discipline. This is what we acknowledge in stanza 5, meekly bowing beneath His chastening hand.” This should lead us to pour forth our confession of known and unknown sins, as we “mourn with our mourning land.”
With one consent we meekly bow
beneath Your chast’ning hand,
and, pouring forth confession meet,
mourn with our mourning land.
Stanza 6 concludes with the sentiment of a Psalm of lament, bowed down by the weight of our problems, crying out to the Lord for relief. Knowing that He is a God of compassion, in fact, He’s the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1), we believe that He will have pity on us as He beholds our need. It’s in that spirit that we pray, “Ley Your mercy spare” us.
With pitying eye behold our need,
as thus we lift our pray’r;
correct us with Your judgments, Lord,
then let Your mercy spare.
The tune, ST ANNE, was written by William Croft (1678-1727) in 1708 while he was the organist of St. Anne’s Church in Soho, hence the name of the tune. Croft received his musical education in the Chapel Royal, under Dr. Blow. In 1700 he was admitted a Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapel Boyd; and in 1707, upon the decease of Jeremiah Clarke, he was appointed joint organist with his mentor, Dr. Blow. In 1709 he was elected organist of Westminster Abbey. A very large number of Dr. Croft’s compositions remain still in manuscript. The ST ANNE tune first appeared anonymously in the “Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms, 6th edition.” It was originally intended to be used with a version of Psalm 62. It was not until sometime later when set to Watts’ text, “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past.” that the tune gained recognition.
Later composers subsequently incorporated the tune in their own works. For example, George Handel used the tune in an anthem entitled, “O Praise the Lord. Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ “Fugue in E-flat Major” BWV 552 is often called the “St. Anne” in the English-speaking world, because of the similarity of its subject to the first line of the hymn tune, though there is some debate as to whether Bach used the actual tune after hearing it, or coincidentally created himself the very similar tune used as the fugal theme. Young Bach’s inspirator and mentor Dietrich Buxtehude, church administrator and organist of St Mary’s Church in Lübeck in north Germany, used the same first line of the hymn tune as theme for the first fugue of his Praeludium-pedaliter in E major for organ.
Sir Arthur Sullivan used the tune in the first and last sections of his “Festival Te Deum,” first in a relatively standard setting, but eventually pairing it with a military march accompaniment. The American composer Carl Ruggles (1876–1971) used the text in his last composition, “Exaltation” (for Brass, Chorus, and Organ) in 1958, in memory of his wife Charlotte who had died the previous year. The hymn and words are also featured in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ anthem, “Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge.”
Here is a link to sing along with a congregation in their worship.