Hymns4Him

Certainly one of the distinguishing marks of a Christian is a desire and willingness to know and do the will of God.  And that doesn’t just mean to know God’s will in a particular situation or decision a person is facing, such as choosing a college, considering what job offer to accept, or evaluating what person to marry.  No, it’s also a matter of everyday decisions about how to handle a persistent temptation, what needs to be done to reconcile with an estranged friend, or the perspective to understand the many disturbing things transpiring in our culture.

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Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) is a name well-known to most Americans.  He is the author of the words to our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.”  In 2007, The “Smithsonian” magazine published this history of its composition.

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Francis Schaeffer used to warn us about using “God words” too casually, hardly thinking about them at all as they rolled off our lips, words that we assume we and our hearers understand, when we actually have only a very simplistic and shallow comprehension of them.  He had in mind such words as “faith,” “saved,” “holy,” and even “grace.” We see that failure to comprehend, or even think seriously, about grace in the popularity of singing “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound,” with no thought at all about what the grace means.

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What more wonderful theme could come from our lips than that of the love of God?  It is there in the best-known verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Not only believers in the devotional thoughts in the privacy of their homes and in their attitude in corporate worship as their hearts are warmed by this consideration, but also preachers and theologians in the depths and heights of their detailed examinations of this great theme are left in awe and wonder at its unsearchable limits. One of the greatest treatises in all the history of Christendom is Jonathan Edwards’ classic 18^th century exposition of Paul’s words in “the love chapter,” in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8.  In his sermon, “Heaven, A World of Love,” he demonstrates that heaven’s greatest joy will be that of experiencing eternally the ineffable love of God.

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When we think of Martin Luther the hymn writer, we of course think of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (“Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”), by far the best known of the 36 hymns he wrote.  But it was actually “Christ lag in Todesbanden” that was his favorite.  This powerful Easter Resurrection chorale is translated into English as “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands.”  While it is not well-known outside of Lutheran circles today (and not even as well-known there as it ought to be!) our Easter worship would be greatly enriched were we to add this to our hymn repertoire.  It is present in many hymnals, and deserves a fresh, revitalized usage today, when so many of our songs lack the textual depth and theology of classic compositions like this. And since every Lord’s Day is historically and liturgically a celebration of the resurrection, this chorale works well not only on Easter Sunday, but in the weeks following, and even throughout the year!

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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.

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We all know about Christmas carols, but most don’t know that there are also carols for other times of the Christian year.  A carol is primarily distinguished by its having come into popular usage after becoming known as a folk tune, often associated with a festive season, and usually without any information about who wrote it or how it came into being in the first place.  The word “carol” comes from the Greek word “choros,” which means to dance in a circle.  The word was transliterated into French as “carole,” and referred to a song to accompany dancing.

Read more: This Joyful Eastertide

As a fitting preparation to Easter tomorrow, Larry has provided another hymn study on the classic spiritual “Were You There”. Sharp eyed readers will realize that this hymn was already covered some time back.

This one contains some additional information, so we are putting it up here, but Larry expects to merge the two into one revision that I will post later.

For the time being, please enjoy them both:

Were You There (original)

Were You There (reprise)