Hymns4Him

How are your spiritual taste buds?  Do they recognize and savor the goodness of the Lord?   That was David’s testimony of his experience with the Lord’s deliverance, and his challenge to the readers / singers who would use Psalm 34 in their own worship.  The heading of the Psalm reads “Of David.  When he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.”  The inspired account is found in 2 Samuel 16-18. That must have been one of the most painful experiences in David’s life.  But this one whom God regarded as “a man after My own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22) wrote of the Lord’s deliverance in this powerful Psalm, a portion of which has been set in metrical form as the hymn “Through All the Changing Scenes of Life.”

Psalm 34 is a literary as well as spiritual masterpiece.  One is tempted to say that as a lyricist, David was his best in this Psalm.  It is not only rich in theological instruction and in pastoral benefit.  It also reflects great poetical skill in its composition.  Like several other Psalms, it is composed in an acrostic form, with each verse beginning in sequence with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  If we were to follow that style in a series of statements in English, it might look like this.

All my hope is in the Lord
Before His throne I make my prayer
Covenant promises will sustain me
Despair shall not reign over me
Everlasting joy surely awaits me
Forever I will dwell in His holy temple
Goodness is central to His character
etc.

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Every human being experiences challenges and hardships in this life, both non Christians and Christians.  It may be from financial difficulties or injured relationships or health crises or even war.  But it should be different when those who know God through Christ are walking through paths that might even lead them through the valley of the shadow of death.  What’s different for the Christian?  It’s the fact that we are not alone, Jesus will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  It’s the security of knowing that He has redeemed us and guaranteed eternal life in His presence. It’s the peace that comes from knowing that God causes all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). It’s the knowledge that God takes what might have been meant for evil and uses it for good (Genesis 50:20).

At the heart of all this is the fact that we who are “in Jesus” (John 15:4) are secure as we trust in our wise and loving and powerful heavenly Father.  To trust is to believe what God has told us in His Word about His covenant love (the Hebrew word is khesed) for His elect, whom He has chosen to be the bride of Christ, and to act on the basis of those things that He has told us about Himself and His will.  We trust Him for our salvation, believing that Jesus’ atoning death on the cross paid for all our sin.  We trust Him as we abandon any idea of earning our freedom from sin’s penalty based on our good works. And we trust Him to work in and for us each day.

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Have you noticed what various religions teach that their deity requires in order to be admitted into eternal bliss after death, in other words “to be saved?”  False religions all have this one thing in  common: that it requires some kind of meritorious work in this life to earn that reward, perhaps having lived a good moral life, or that good deeds will be found to outweigh bad deeds, or maybe following prescribed religious rituals.  All of these fail on several counts.  One is that no one is good, and our sin nature will prevent us from following through on the most noble intents. Another cause for failure is that each of these efforts involves, in a sense, bribing a god, or tricking that god into thinking we are better than we actually are (maybe even by failing to see), as we are lost in the crowd of humanity.  A third failure is that such a view has too high a view of fallen human nature and too low a view of the holiness of God.  That a God who is too pure to even look on sin, and too just to let sin go unpunished, could possibly overlook our wickedness, turns Him into a benevolent Santa Claus who brings gifts at Christmas whether we’ve been bad or good, one who turns a blind eye to our treason, and who treats the criminal in the same way He does the saint.

Add to that the conclusion that if we could make it on our own, then Christ’s death on the cross was useless.  Not only that, it turns the Father into a monster. When Jesus cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was pleading with the Father that if there was any other way than the cross, to spare Him.  If our efforts would suffice to pay the price of our evil deeds, and the Father knew it, it would mean that He said to His beloved Son (in effect), “No, the cross isn’t necessary; they’re each able to manage on their own.  But go ahead anyway and let them torture You and put You to a horrible death.”  Is that a God worthy of worship? Is that a God with whom we would want to spend eternity?  Not me!

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Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord brings encouragement to our troubled hearts in ordinary ways at key moments in our lives? It’s almost as if He had direct access to our thoughts and emotions and knew how best to cheer us.  But of course, He does!  And as our loving heavenly Father, He will speak to us through indirect, but not less divine everyday means.  It might be a sight that reminds us of Bible promise.  It might be a friend who says just the right thing at the right moment.  It might be a passage in a devotional book that touches our soul in a most reassuring way. Perhaps when we have been processing a troubling recent medical diagnosis that suddenly a thought pops into our mind that reminds us that we are not alone, but that the Good Shepherd is there, even in the valley of the shadow of death.

Or it might be when we are singing something – perhaps a hymn – that surprises us with something about the Lord that brings Him back into focus in our attention, when we had gotten too busy to remember Him, or too absorbed in some challenge to remember that we need to be looking not at the waves in the storm, but rather at the Savior who walks on the waves, and calls us to come to Himself.  Since God is the one who designed music and also designed our mental and emotional capacity for responding to music, it should come as no surprise to us to remember that music can touch our souls in especially powerful ways.

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Jesus has called me to serve Him by being a patient with pancreatic cancer.  A part of me finds it hard to believe I just wrote that, but I did.  For my own sake, and hopefully for the benefit of others, I want to use one more hymn study to address this and convey the perspective that the Lord is growing in my heart as I process this new reality in my life. At the very beginning, I want folks to see my two prayer requests.  1. Pray with and for me that the Lord will guide me and my wife in the days ahead with wisdom and endurance as we learn what will be involved in the best medical steps for dealing with this cancer.  2. Pray with and for me that the Lord will bless my efforts to use this cancer to glorify Him in ways that enable others to see how different it is when a Christian is called to walk this path.

In recent days, the Lord has brought to my mind the concept of His “calling.”  A friend of mine who grew up Roman Catholic tells me how in high school and college, the nuns encouraged students to pray for a “calling” or a “vocation.” By that was meant that boys might hope to become priests and that girls might hope to become nuns.  The church taught that this is what it meant to be “called” by God to have a “vocation.”  I guess any other kind of career path would have been second class at best, or maybe even a selfish refusal to follow God’s call!

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This wonderful prayer is part of the Anglican liturgy for a service of worship at the time of the death of one of God’s saints as earthly life comes to an end. From the Book of Common Prayer:

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.  He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.

In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of Thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?

Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Savior, Thou most worthy judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from Thee.  Amen

It has become common in the 21^st century for a funeral or memorial service for believers (and even for unbelievers) to be called a “Celebration of Life.”  There is certainly legitimacy for this, since such a service for one who has trusted in Christ for salvation could be viewed as a graduation celebration, as long as the focus is not on the person who has graduated into glory based on his or her accomplishments, as with an academic graduation ceremony.  No, the graduation is realized only because of what Jesus has accomplished on behalf of a sinner who repented and believed the gospel.

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At the center of the Christian faith is giving praise to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is the ultimate purpose for which we were created (“to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”), and should come naturally to us as beings hard-wired for this very purpose.  As John Piper has so often said and written, it is both our duty and our delight.  When we look at something that is inherently beautiful and awe-inspiring, it is our natural instinctive response to admire it, praise it, and to call those around us to join us in that celebration of its greatness. And what could be more beautiful, more awe-inspiring, more deeply enthralling than to gaze on the beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27:4)?

In fact, this is one of the most prominent themes given to us by God in the inspired hymn-book His Spirit has composed for us: the 150 Psalms.  They are filled with both personal and corporate calls to praise Him, and give us God-breathed words to use in doing so.  This is especially so in latter Psalms in Book Five of the Psalter.

• Psalm 95:1-3 – “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” 
• Psalm 100:1-4 – “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God; it is He who made us, and we are His people; His name is the LORD.” 
• Psalm 136:1-3 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.” 
• Psalm 138:1-3 – “I will praise You, Lord, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing Your praise. I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your name for Your unfailing love and Your faithfulness.” 
• Psalm 150:1-6 – “Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the lyre and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance. Praise Him with stringed instruments and the flute. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Hallelujah!” 

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As our nation celebrates its 250^th anniversary on July 4, 2026, we Christians turn our minds and hearts toward biblical passages about honoring the rulers God has ordained for us (Romans 13:4 –  “he is God’s servant for your good”) and praying for the well-being of the land in which we live (Jeremiah 29:7 – “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”).  And on patriotic occasions we are often reminded of Psalm 33:12 – “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  Of course, no nation today can claim that the way Israel could in the Old Testament, but is there not an abiding dimension of blessing for us today when our culture (or at least the Christian “remnant” in our culture) honors the Lord?

With the challenge of the unacceptable excesses of “Christian Nationalism” (which almost all evangelical denominations have categorically rejected), we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water (so-to-speak) by being reluctant to enthusiastically celebrate a patriotic spirit at this historic semi sesquicentennial (250^th), a once in a lifetime event.  In contrast to the radical liberal “wokeists” who scream that America is a terrible nation, we should be in the front line of those who point to the biblical principles that were openly embraced by our founding fathers and the impressive list of things with which God, in His providence, has blessed us.  We do so proudly, not because of what we have done, but proud of what our God has done!  

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As we celebrate the royal majesty of the Son of God seated on His throne in heaven, how wonderful it is to celebrate at the same time the fact that this divine sovereign has also joyfully condescended to become the friend of sinners.  He said to His disciples (and to us today) in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants ….  Instead I have called you friends.”  How amazing that the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus, the Son of God, identifies those of us who have been united to Him by faith as His friends!  Imagine that He were actually speaking about you by name in a public address, and said, “(insert your name here) is My friend.”

Think of how many times in His earthly ministry Jesus acted to demonstrate that He was the friend of sinners. There was the woman caught in adultery.  There was Zacchaeus the tax collector.  There was the woman at the well.  And let’s don’t forget Saul of Tarsus! The Scribes and Pharisees looked down on Jesus for this very reason.  They were disgusted that Jesus was the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19).  But what great hope that gives us when we recognize ourselves as sinners (the first step in embracing the gospel), to realize that Jesus comes to us as a friend.  He is the one we should immediately think of when we read Proverbs 18:24 about a friend that sticks closer than a brother.  And of course, we should also recall John 15:13, where Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  And that’s exactly what He has done for us.

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While “The Star Spangled Banner” is not technically a hymn of praise to God, since it is found in many hymnals in America and sung or played on so many occasions (baseball games being among them!), it is being including here in this collection of studies.  It is the national anthem of the United States of America and will be heard across the nation on this July 4^th, 2026, as the country celebrates its 250^th anniversary, our semiquincentennial (try saying that quickly five times!).

The lyrics come from the “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.  Key was inspired by the large U. S. flag with its 15 stars and 15 stripes, that star-spangled banner, flying triumphantly above the fort after the battle.

His poem was set to the music of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen’s club in London.  Smith’s song, “The Anacreontic Song,” with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States.  This setting, renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” soon became a popular patriotic song.  With a range of 19 semitones, it is known for being very difficult to sing, in part because the melody stretches so far into higher notes that other voices than a soprano find it challenging to reach.

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