Hymns4Him

It is the height (or should we say, the depth!) of foolishness to think that we can handle all the challenges of life on our own.  We are dependent on help from many people and sources in all kinds of situations.  In fact, there is nothing in our life in which we can function independent of assistance from others.  It begins even before our birth, as we need a mother who will seek pre-natal care to insure that all goes well during her pregnancy while we are growing in her womb.  We need her to feed and change us as a newborn in those early months after our birth.  And that dependency continues all the way, even into our teen and adult years, as both mother and father guide, protect, and provide for us.

And how about all that we needed from teachers during our school years.  Add to that all the things we have needed from medical professionals as problems have arisen with our health.  And we dare not forget our dependence on friends whose wise counsel has so many times given us guidance in how best to respond to troubling situations in relationships. And here’s one more.  How many of us could fix problems with our cars, our home air conditioning and plumbing, our retirement investments, and our job searches without help?

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It can be very hard to live with painful experiences as Christians, wondering “Where was God?”  We love Him and trust Him, but still struggle when His providence permits heartbreaking events.  He is our Heavenly Father; we are His adopted children; He has told us that He loves us.  We have no doubt that He will be with us always, even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23) or go through the deep waters and fire (Isaiah 43).  And we know that He is absolutely sovereign, so there is nothing that happens to us apart from His will. But we can’t help but wonder why He allows things that hurt us so much. We call these matters of “theodicy;” how do we justify God in things He does which don’t make sense to us?

Some of those things that trouble us are personal and private: a cancer diagnosis, the death of a child, a disastrous car accident, the impact of vision loss. Others are just as private and personal, but more emotional than physical: a friend that turns on us, a wonderful job where we’re terminated, a child that turns away from the Lord, an embarrassing realization of our inadvertently having hurt another.  Other things bring us distress and confusion from events around us that touch us and steal our peace of mind: a devastating storm, a destructive flood, a terrorist attack, the outbreak of war, the collapse of a government. 

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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.

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Why do we use music in our worship, and what is its purpose?  We take for granted that there will be music in Christian worship, but how many of us have stopped to consider those two questions?  Music, especially singing, has long been a part of biblical worship.  Consider, just as one example, the 150 Psalms inspired by the Holy Spirit and included in the canon of Scripture for the worship of God’s people, from the time of Moses (Psalm 90) until today and until Jesus returns.  The book of Revelation gives us a picture of the worship in heaven from the apostle John’s day into eternity, where saints and angels are ceaselessly singing “Holy, holy, holy,” and “Worthy is the Lamb.”

This is one of the marvelous distinctives of biblical worship.  What other religion in the world has made the singing of the people to be such an integral part of worship?  Yes, there is music in many religious practices, from animistic jungle tribes to that of the mantra chanting of eastern religions.  But those bear little resemblance to the vast treasury of sacred music that has grown in Christianity, especially since the time of the Reformation.  Even before that, this included the beautiful Gregorian plainsong melodies of the medieval church, and has now grown to include well over two million Christian hymns, not to mention the vast repertoire of sacred choral and instrumental music!

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Even though it has happened in the past (Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan), it was still shocking when news media began reporting that former president Donald Trump had been shot at an open air rally in northwestern Pennsylvania.  This hymn study is being written the day after that happened, with a hymn deliberately chosen to reflect the biblical perspective that Christians should embrace in the wake of that.  It includes our relief that the former President’s life was providentially spared (though sadly there was the tragic death of a husband / father in the stands, and two others seriously injured).  This study also seeks to be a reminder of important truths that the Bible illuminates from such events.

Here are a few thoughts about that attempted assassination.  If I had been preaching the next morning, I would have changed my sermon at the last minute.  Everyone in church was thinking about that terrible event, so how could I, as their pastor, ignore this divinely-ordained opportunity to provide guidance in how believers should process all this?  At least one major news network has been repeatedly broadcasting interviews with people who pointed out what should be obvious to everyone … that it was God’s providence that not only spared the former President’s life, but also spared the country from unimaginable grief and trauma and confusion in the wake of such an assassination.

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It should come as no surprise that many of our most beloved hymns were written as a result of some extremely painful experience.  We have examples of that with “It Is Well with My Soul” (four daughters lost in a ship sinking), “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” (a fiancé who backed out), “Just As I Am” (a bed-ridden invalid), “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (a drowning just before a wedding), and “Now Thank We All Our God” (millions of deaths during Germany’s 17^th century Thirty Years’ War).  In moments of our lives that are most emotionally powerful, even devastating, it’s natural that the human heart finds strength in the beauty of poetry wedded to music.  That’s probably one of the main attractions to the biblical Psalms, which are, as Calvin called them, “the anatomy of the soul.”

One of those examples of hymns that came from tragedies is the Swedish hymn, “Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment.”  Carolina (“Lina,” pronounced Lie-nah) Wilhelmina Sandell Berg (1832-1903) wrote this text in 1865 at the age of 26, several years after she experienced a terrible tragedy.  She had been with her father, Jonas, a Lutheran pastor, on board a ship while crossing Lake Vättern in Sweden.  Suddenly the ship lurched, and before her eyes her father was thrown overboard and drowned.  Lina had written hymns before, but after this calamity, she poured out her broken heart in an on-going stream of beautiful songs.  She grew to become Sweden’s most celebrated author of gospel hymns, and wrote so many that she has often been called “the Fanny Crosby of Sweden.”  Her more than 600 hymns also included “Children of the Heavenly Father” and had a mighty influence on the revival that swept across Scandinavia after 1850.

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Ours is a time when a longing for peace grows stronger by the day in each of our hearts.  We watch heart-breaking video news reports of the suffering in Gaza and Ukraine.  We get details about oppression by tribal lords in Africa and the Middle East, and brutal dictatorships in North Korea and China, and even physical abusive within homes and among family members.  And on top of all that, we have not only the street warfare from criminals in our American cities, but also of the political war that rages between rival Democrats and Republicans.  The reality of all these hostilities from war and oppression, from tyranny and brutality,from slander and corruption all continue.  Jesus even told us to expect “wars and rumors of wars” until the end.

Our secular culture talks about peace as something that is attainable through legislation or education, through stronger armies or increased police presence, through judicial process or political campaigns … or even through ridiculous “new age” ideas like meditating under a tree and thinking happy thoughts! But none of these are realistic hopes because of the “desperately wicked” condition of human hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).  Only the Holy Spirit can renew the soul, and that’s what He does through the miracle of regeneration.  And that will only take place in a complete way when “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6-7) returns in glory.  So what’s the most effective thing we can do?  It’s to draw near to that Prince of Peace in prayer.

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When new members are publicly received into a church during a morning worship service, it is quite common that to welcome them, people will sing together the familiar hymn, “Blest Be the Tie That Binds.”  While that 1772 text is quite appropriate for such an occasion, that’s not exactly the setting which the 18^th century author had in mind.  By one count, the hymn has appeared in at least 2200 hymnals!  And it has been said that more church services have been concluded with the singing of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” and “God Be With You” than with all other hymns combined. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but this song is quite appropriate for use on other purposes than just a closing hymn. One of the greatest blessings that Christians have on earth is the fellowship and association of God’s people to give us encouragement as we try to live here in preparation for heaven. And this song so beautifully pictures the blessings of this relationship based on brotherly love, as it says, “Blest Be the Tie That Binds.”

John Fawcett (1740-1817) grew up in a poor family in Yorkshire, England, and lived his entire life in small towns (probably more like villages) in the Yorkshire moors in England. There were no railways in those days, mail was very slow, and the only way of moving around was on foot or horseback over very poor, barely-formed roads. News would travel slowly from London to a place like Hebden Bridge (his village in Yorkshire).

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