Here Thy Praises I'll Begin

As I prepared to create a few posts centered around "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," I turned to my favorite source for hymn lyrics, Cyberhymnal.  It's certainly not unusual to find that a hymn I've know all my life has lyrics I've never heard, and sometimes stanzas and stanzas of them. "Come, Thou Fount" is a case where parts of some of the original stanzas were omitted and the remainders combined into a new stanza.


Cyberhymnal renders the second stanza thusly:


Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.


Who has not known this struggle? It is the essence of trying to live a Christian life with a soul that is cursed by sin, with a heart that is desperately wicked, with a mind that needs dramatically transformed, with strength that is easily spent on the cares of the world.


^{Romans 7:21} So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!


^{Psalm 42:5} Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God.


Paul and David knew the struggle, and yet clearly they knew salvation and the One who saves.  Thus even though we await a final rescue from this body, "Here Thy praises I'll begin."

Tune My Heart to Sing Thy Praise

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing has been one of my favorite hymns for as long as I can remember. I think that perhaps, lyrically, the first verse really appeals to musicians and other music lovers. "Tune my heart," "melodious sonnets sung by flaming tongues above."  Those lines summon up the passion music can elicit in us and provide an image that brings to mind the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel and John. We can sing those songs and almost hear the brush of the wings of the creatures saying constantly, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty."


The other morning as I lay in bed hoping for inspiration to strike so that I could post something here in order to continue my press toward (nearly) 30 days of consistency on this blog, the phrase "tune my heart" grabbed my attention.  I suppose my overall understanding of that line has been as a plea for God's spirit to secure my attention, to help me conquer distraction, to focus on God's grace, and to make my heart inclined toward praise.  


But that morning, I suddenly wondered why I had never seen a connection between that phrase and the tuning up of a musical instrument before playing.  I am a violinist, and I would no more play the instrument without checking its tuning than I would go to the store in my pajamas. It's an essential part of preparation.


What is necessary for tuning to take place, and what is accomplished by the tuning process? First, tuning requires a standard.  I can take my violin and make it be in tune with itself.  I could then play something on it that would sound okay, but if I were to then attempt to play with another person, I would find out that I just wasn't quite right. The other players and I would not be producing something beautiful unless we were in tune with each other.


So a first step in having our hearts tuned for worship is having a standard.  A few Biblical standards jump to mind. "Be holy for I am holy." "Be perfect for your Father in heaven is perfect." "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Our efforts to tune our lives and hearts to the standard of his example can only serve to make our corporate worship more wholehearted, more unified, and more beautiful in the sight of Him whom we are praising. Surely tuning our hearts by becoming more like Jesus makes us more eager to draw near to and build up the saints, to love one another and bear one another's burdens and "do life together".


So tuning requires that a standard be recognized.  It also requires that each individual instrument becomes aligned with that standard. How does that happen?  How does I tune my flat 430 Hz  A string so that it meets a standard 440 Hz?  Well, I stretch it.  I turn a peg, and that stretches the string so that it can sound the proper pitch. The tension on the string is increased.


That suggests to me that tuning my heart to sing His grace will result in times of stretching and increased tension. Unfortunately, sometimes I will resist this. I will be like the string whose peg slips back into its accustomed place, with the result that everything done on that string is just a little flat.  Things might not be awful, but they won't be what they could be. The stretching process is what brings me up to the standard. The pain of the stretching will be what increases faith, and what makes me constantly more aware of the streams of never-ceasing mercy, and recognizing that mercy more and more will certainly result in songs of loudest praise. 

His the Loving Purpose Solely

Revisiting the entry I posted yesterday has caused me to reflect on another hymn that has been meaningful to me at a few different times in my life.

A Swedish poet and hymn writer named Lina Sandell Berg is credited, according to a very cursory Internet search, with writing at least 650 hymns. (My first thought? Oh, so she’s a Swedish Fanny Crosby. And sure enough, the next several sites I visited referred to her by that nickname.) I am apparently familiar with very few of them, but dearly love one translated into the song we know as "Children of the Heav’nly Father."

I didn't really grow up with that song. I think it may have been used some in the Southern Baptist churches we attended in my early childhood, but it was not used in the independent Baptist church that I was in from fourth grade until I left home.

I first became truly aware of the song, then, toward the end of my high school career. The top choir at my high school had several joint performances with our orchestra that year, and I learned that it was a tradition for them to perform "Children of the Heav’nly Father" at the conclusion of every concert. The combination of the simple, lovely folk tune and the moving lyrics captured me at once.

I think that because of the inclusion of the word "children" in the title, the song perhaps gets relegated to a children's song, and I think that over the years of college, grad school, and early marriage, I only heard it a scant handful of times. But when I became an expectant mother, the song became a part of my life.

I'm sure many of us decide to try little experiments that we hope will have an impact on our unborn children. In my case, I decided I would pick one hymn to sing to my belly in hopes that that song would provide a calming influence on the baby after he joined the outside world. The song I picked for my first-born was “Children of the Heav’nly Father.”

Children of the heav’nly Father


Safely in His bosom gather;


Nestling bird nor star in Heaven


Such a refuge e’er was given.

As a young mother, I was also touched by the parental image of the second verse:

God His own doth tend and nourish;

In His holy courts they flourish;

From all evil things He spares them;


In His mighty arms He bears them.

I continued to sing the song around the house as our family grew. (And yes, I did think my oldest responded to that song when he was an infant, but we obviously can’t prove these things.) It never seemed to become anyone’s favorite but mine, but it continued to be a moving song for me.

When I was about 5 weeks away from delivering my fourth child, my sister announced that she was at last pregnant with their long-hoped-for second child. Unhappily, things did not go according to plan, and her little daughter was born prematurely and died from post-operative infection 2 ½ weeks after her birth. When my husband, infant son, and I went out for the baby’s funeral, most of the arrangements had been taken care of. One of the few details was to find a song for the music minister to sing at the graveside service. A few titles had been suggested, but they weren’t seeming quite right to her. I believe the Lord brought this song to mind. She looked it up, and after a few seconds’ thought, decided upon it. The next two verses are particularly poignant given the circumstances:

Neither life nor death shall ever


From the Lord His children sever;


Unto them His grace He showeth,


And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Though He giveth or He taketh,


God His children ne’er forsaketh;


His the loving purpose solely


To preserve them pure and holy.

And thus this hymn, which I came to love because of its sweet, almost maternal nature, has become bound in my heart with feelings of love and sorrow and hope and trust, feelings I still experience whenever I sing it. May I have the faith to always believe His promise to never leave us nor forsake us and trust His work in preserving and sanctifying us.

Apples or Vinegar?

I actually wrote this post well over a year ago. I originally published it as a facebook note and thought that I included it on this blog. However, I suppose at the time I was still thinking of this blog, which I wasn't ever writing in, as being about hymns, so included it on my general blog instead. Since I gave in and expanded the lyrical scope here, I've decided to give this post yet another place of its own.

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. -- Proverbs 25:11

God is good all the time. We use that phrase so often, and yet I think much of the time we misuse it. Most of the time when I hear people say it, they really seem to be saying, “I am currently perceiving God as kind. He has chosen to work things out the way I wanted Him to.” But in scriptural terms, the goodness of God does not refer to His kindness, and certainly not to whether or not we are happy with His works. It refers to his moral goodness. One of the challenges of the Christian life, of the life of faith is to trust that God is indeed acting out of moral goodness even when those actions hurt terribly and make us rail and scream against the pain and hurt.

Seven years ago today, I walked into what was, for the rest of the congregation, a typical Sunday morning service. For me, it was not. My husband and I had returned just the evening before from the funeral and burial of my infant niece. As I was going through the motions of participating in the singing, I had to give up when the congregation sang “God Is Good All the Time” (Moen). We sang that song many times at that church, and I’ve really hated it ever since and will be content if I never hear it again.

Now, to be fair to Don Moen, his song does acknowledge that life is not a bowl of cherries:

If you’re walking through the valley

And there are shadows all around

Do not fear; He will guide you

He will keep you safe and sound

‘Cause He’s promised to never leave you

Nor forsake you and His Word is true

But the song itself is a very upbeat, clappy, happy, almost pep rally kind of tune. Hearing that song in a time of sorrow was not an apple of gold. Instead, it called to mind a different proverb in that same chapter:

Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on soda is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. -- Proverbs 25:20

Early on when we came to our present church, I was introduced to “Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman. My very first reaction to this song 3 ½ years ago was, “Now if I’d run into this song after Bethany’s death, I could have appreciated it.” It was, especially in comparison, truly an apple of gold in a setting of silver.

When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Blessed be your name on a road marked with suffering. Though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be Your name.

You give and take away; My heart will choose to say, “Blessed be Your Name.”

In other words, God is good all the time.

Today our church gathered to bury a beloved member and shepherd, and this song was one of the ones sung at his memorial service. It it tragic to think of his wife and daughters, especially the one still at home, deprived of his care and support. We hate the hole left in his community by his absence. We can’t imagine walking into church week after week and never seeing his smile or being caught up in his formidable embrace. But as he no doubt learned through the heartbreaking life and loss of his own infant daughter, God is good all the time. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Psalm 124

There have been all kinds of trends within the Christian music of the last 40 years, some considerably more favorable than others. I think that the best thing to come out of the praise and worship music of the last 20-25 years is a propensity among songwriters for adapting scriptural passages directly into lyrics with no or at least very little change. My experience has been that contemporary writers have done this really more than the writers of gospel songs of the previous 100-150 years did, and I truly appreciate it.

Even in just my morning reading of selected psalms, I came across the source for material for 3 or 4 different contemporary songs we sing regularly.

One of those was Psalm 124, which was adapted by Debbie Dorman into the song "Had It Not Been the Lord".

Her adaptation:

Had it not been the LORD who was on our side,

The anger of the enemy would have swallowed us alive.

Blessed be the LORD who would not give us up,

Blessed be the LORD for his unfailing love,

The snare is broken and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

Blessed be the LORD.

And here's the NIV of the actual psalm:

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
² if the LORD had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
would have swept us away.

⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

I believe this song has become very meaningful in my church family, and it's a beautiful adaptation. But this morning I couldn't help be struck by the one major change Mrs. Dorman made. "Praise be to the LORD who has not let us be torn by their teeth," became "Blessed be the LORD who would not give us up."

Yes, I believe making that change definitely made for a much more singable song. Don't you think?

He Is My Rest; He Is My Peace

When the worship ministers at my church select a Sunday's worth of songs, they generally have some sort of thematic structure in mind. This past Sunday was October 31. As our church, thoroughly Protestant but not specifically Reformed, does not tend to recognize Reformation Sunday, the observance of Halloween was on the mind of the man who was leading worship that day. The stated theme (and the title of one of the songs) was "Highest Hope" and in his email to the week's singers, the worship leader indicated that the ideas of "no fear in love" and "our hope is in Him alone" guided the planning of the service.

The service began with this video. Did you catch that last verse? It leaped off the screen at me.

Isaiah 41:13: For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Oh, what a beautiful image! Surely any parent has a memory of taking her little one's hand as he walks down the hall to his first classroom, or gets on that scary escalator for the first time, or faces the prospect of hiking up a steep, slippery hill. And just as we led them, encouraged them and helped them, He will help me.

If asked, I would not have indicated that I am a particularly fearful person. While I certainly couldn't honestly describe myself as bold, I also don't think of myself as a worrier. My self-concept is that I can roll with the punches. But the lead-in video begins by focusing on relationship-oriented fears. That's hitting a girl where it hurts!

There's been an ongoing circumstance in my life that has been hanging over my head for a full year. I still don't know how the situation will be resolved. I do know that in addition to the discomfort of an unknown, unresolved major life circumstance, fears of loneliness and rejection certainly come into play. I’ve been there, and given the choice, I really don’t want to go there again.

As we sang through the lyrics of some pretty moving songs, what I came to understand is that while my emotions and thinking about this situation may not have felt like fear, they certainly didn't feel, look, sound, or act like trust. I was also reminded over and over that my perspective is so very, very limited and so very, very short-term. Surely I am thinking like a little child, thinking like my son was thinking when he was three and wailed, "I just want what I want!" How easy it is to forget that peace does not come from having things go the way I would have chosen for them to go. And how many words we sang brought home the points I needed to hear.

Perfect submission, perfect delight!

Perfect submission, all is at rest.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come, and I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.

Blessed Jesus, come to me; soothe my soul with rays of peace. As I look to You alone, fill me with Your love.

Breathe, o breathe Thy loving spirit into every troubled breast.”

“You’re all I want; You’re all I’ve ever needed. Help me know You are near!

And how’s this for food for thought for someone who, she must admit, has been fretting about tomorrow:

I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.

But in the end, even though there was more to be said and more to be sung, a very simple song of just two phrases captured what my heart needs to meditate on and truly learn:

Be still and know that I am God. I am the Lord that strengthens thee.

When I remember that, and when I am living in the truth that my sin was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, when I am controlled by the blessed assurance that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has become my help, then it is well with my soul. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

NaBloPoMo

Inspired by Shauna at Treasure Seekers, National Blog Posting Month seems like a great time to challenge myself to pay some attention to this blog and celebrate in a consistent way the songs that lead me to worship. My heart is full right now following yesterday's worship service, and I look forward to putting down my thoughts as the words continue to work in my brain and on my heart.

Then We Shall See Face to Face

This heart-grabbing video was featured at a worship conference I was blessed to attend last weekend. Certainly one can see the climactic moment coming a mile away, but the knowledge doesn’t diminish the impact in the least. We witness a scene of such intense gratitude that we can hardly speak ourselves.

But somehow I failed to really get it until the next day or so when I was back home from the conference and re-entering into the mundane. I suppose that because I had much to process from everything that was going on through the experience of attending the conference, my heart, soul and mind just didn’t quite the truth of what happened in that meeting. A man who had been saved from hopeless circumstances meeting the one who had supported him through the years doesn’t really capture the essential point.

The bottom line is that Jimmy met his savior. He had a clear memory of his previous life, and he knew the difference between who he is and who he would have been had he managed to survive. And he knew who it was that saved him. He’d never seen his savior nor been able to have a conversation with him, but he had messages from his savior that he could think on and that were meant to encourage him. He knew what this gift had done in his life, and he knew it meant absolutely everything. No wonder he could do nothing but weep and fall to his knees when all of sudden, right there in Georgia, he met his savior. I hope the two of them can be near each other when someday they both meet their Savior.

When I stand in glory, I will see His face.
There I’ll serve my King forever, in that holy place.
- Melody Green

I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When Your face is before me.
I can only imagine.

Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine.
- Bart Millard

A short time ago, I was poignantly reminded that one of the beauties of poetry, or in the case of the intended subject of this blog, lyrics, is the meaning that captures your heart and demands your attention, even though the meaning you derived isn’t necessarily the intended one. But because your attention has been seized, a little time and thought enable you to come around to and benefit from the intended meaning.

Case in point: It is possible that my life may soon undergo a major upheaval. I would rather it not. I’m not necessarily a fan of upheaval, or even dramatic change. The situation has been on my mind, of course, and was weighing on me heavily on a Sunday in November when I was participating on our church’s worship team. One song in particular was really tearing me up.

I will never be the same again.
I can never return, I’ve closed the door.
I will walk the path; I’ll run the race,
And I will never be the same again. -- (Geoff Bullock)

Now, what struck me at that point was just thinking about never being the same again, and about having to close the door. I was thinking of how that door would be closing on a situation that has been life-influencing if not exactly life-changing. A situation that I didn't really want to be in in the first place. However, I have come to be not only content but happy, and frankly I don’t want that door closed by essentially reversing the situation.

But I was, of course, missing the point. The song continues:

There are higher heights; there are deeper seas.
Whatever You need to do, Lord, do it in me!
The glory of God fills my life
And I will never be the same again.

I was needing to be reminded of that "whatever You need to do" part. I don’t like that part as much. It’s fine to sing about, but to really submit to it? That can be painful.

Sweep away the darkness; burn away the chaff

Yet I am so thankful that God pointed out to me what the actual point of the song was. It still made me sad, and I still cried through the end of sound check, but it is forcing me, even still, to examine myself and confront things in my nature that need put to death.

Because of the frame of mind I was in, there were other snatches in that Sunday’s collection of songs that made me mindful of my potential upheaval, but as I came to realize that I needed to get my head straight about the real point of “I Will Never Be the Same Again,” I realized that I was really missing the point of things in several places. Our worship leaders construct the song lineup around a theme, and I realized I needed to consult my lead sheet and see what the theme of the day was intended to be. “I Belong to Jesus.”

We place You in the highest place above all else -- (Kirk Dearman)

Oh. Yeah. That’s right. I belong to Him and am supposed to be His to do with as He wills. Everywhere I go, He is to be in the highest place.

You are my strength when I am weak, you are my all-in-all. (Dennis Jernigan)

And because I belong to Jesus, He will take care of the upheaval. As I so frequently told my children when they were little, we don’t have to have our own way all the time to be happy. It’s time for me to mean it.

The Joy of the Lord will be my strength
He will uphold me all of my days (Twila Paris)

Whether the circumstances I would rather avoid come to pass or not, He will be with me. If I’m cast into a lonely situation, He will uphold me. I can continue fretting, or I can be appropriately sad for losses I might be facing while seizing the opportunity to trust, cling to, and follow Him and come through knowing Him better, obeying Him better, and loving Him better.

The Obligatory "I haven't posted" Entry

My original concept of this blog was to have a week-long discussion about the words of traditional hymns and gospel songs, authored not only by myself but by any readers who volunteered a contribution. I still think that would be a great thing, but I've realized that if I'm ever going to write anything here, I need to be able to let that original concept go.

I have had many thoughts over the last year concerning how God uses lyrics to work on my heart, and those thoughts have gone unwritten. So I will just move on with writing whatever is on my mind concerning hymn lyrics. However, I will probably expand into lyrics of more contemporary music more frequently than I originally intended. Our church congregation does sing traditional hymns, but the majority of our music is contemporary, so it's only natural that those songs are on my mind frequently. And this blog is going to be about the songs that are on my mind.

I would still love to have contributors. If you happen on this blog and would like to say something that would be rather more extensive than the comment space allows, then by all means contact me so that we can discuss including your entry here. I would be honored to receive your contributions of content.

I'm working on the re-boot entry now and hope to post by the end of the week. Meanwhile, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" was written by Thomas Chisolm in the early 20th century. In reading about the song's background, it appears it was set to music by William Runyan in 1923. Sources indicate that Chisolm lived a life where he never had much, but God always provided his needs. He had constant examples of God's faithfulness in small, sustaining ways.

There are amazing and awe-inspiring stories of God's faithfulness, but I think most of us can relate to Chisolm in that we experience God's faithfulness quietly yet continuously. The time in my life when the words of this song ministered so directly to me was not a time of great drama, but in my staid little life, it felt dramatic to me. When my third child was born, I experienced a somewhat unusual complication. This complication kept me in the hospital for 10 days after her birth. I'd never experienced any illness but the run-of-the-mill winter bugs before, and it was unsettling to be hospitalized and have no diagnosis. Though my other children were in good hands, it was unnerving to have them be in someone else's care for so long. When I'd been there a full week and still was without a diagnosis or effective treatment, I could only think of Psalm 113:9, of being settled in my home as a happy mother of children. (Granted, I was hardly barren, as this was my third child in three and a half years, but I was surely anxious to be settled in my home with them.) It was a Friday, and I was growing very discouraged. Dear friends drove 45 miles in Friday rush hour DFW traffic to see me that evening. I was so glad to have them, but I was downhearted.

And then Saturday morning, the doctors announced they would treat me for the condition that was the most likely suspect even though a diagnosis wasn't confirmed. And it worked. And the fever came down. And they agreed that there was no reason I couldn't nurse my little pink sweetheart. And they found me a nurse who really was an effective consultant to help the baby get past her confusion (because putting her on a bottle would have just cut to the heart).

And all I could think, over and over, was "All I have needed Thy hand hath provided." Thank you, Lord, for providing all I have ever needed. I still tear up every time we sing that song and come to that line. I hope I always will.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not;

As Thou has been, Thou forever wilt be.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars int heir courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To They great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, and ten thousand beside.

Refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Welcome to a hymn blog!

I still love old hymns.  Many times there is a depth in the lyrics that has the power to really focus my mind on the Lord, on scripture, on living worthy of the gospel.  The purpose of this blog is to call attention to these lyrics.

In addition to appreciation of the lyrics themselves, I'd love to hear stories about how hymns have been sustaining and comforting during specfic times in folks' lives.

While traditional hymns and gospel songs will be the focus here, more contemporary music is allowed here from time to time. ;)  Hymns, after all, are songs of praise, so there is unquestionably a wealth of songs in the contemporary praise and worship genre that are hymns with lyrics that deserve to be noted and meditated upon.  We'll bring those up now and again, but the emphasis will be on songs that are, well, older than we are.

My desire for this blog is that it be a community effort, and to that end, I'll be soliciting contributions from my favorite online community.  Hopefully we'll make some new friends and earn new contributors along the way.