Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Introductory Volume(0) — Commentary on the Songs from Taylor Publications’ ‘Praise for the Lord’ Hymnal (v-2.0)

(This page has been updated to promote a different means of indexing all the songs that have commentaries attached to them

 Through this series of blogs I would like to look through the songs in Taylor Publications’ Praise for the Lord hymnal and make commentary about them.  This will include some notes on how well they may fit the descriptions and definitions of "song, hymns, and spiritual songs"* as well as each song's scriptural integrity (should we be singing "It Won't Be Very Long"? or "Jesus is Coming Soon"? and why or why not?).  I would like to solicit your thoughts on them and hope you can post your comments at the end of each article.
With THIS entry, I hope to provide links to each individual song, each entry’s volume number referencing the number to that song (e.g.– Vol. 1: “A Beautiful Life”, Vol. 588: “Sinners Jesus will Receive”).  Simply click on whatever set of 100 wherein your song choice resides and it will take you to an index of all songs in that group that are available (this is an ongoing project and it may be a while before completion is achieved as there are 990 songs in this hymnal!).

Again, any questions or comments should be posted in the comments section.  Thank you.

–bas4d
--updated 6/16/2017
http://phss101-pftl.blogspot.com/p/index-601-700.html

http://phss101-pftl.blogspot.com/p/index-701-800.html


*  These definitions are listed in the Syllabus to this "course" and mentioned as the Prime Directive; I shall try to link to this list with every article.
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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Vol. 950: Lamb of God


      1. "Your only Son no sin to hide, But You have sent Him from Your side To walk upon this guilty sod And to become the Lamb of God.
      2. "Your gift of love they crucified, They laughed and scorned Him as He died, The humble King they named a fraud And sacrificed the Lamb of God.
      3. "I was so lost I should have died, But You have brought me to Your side To be led by Your staff and rod, And to be called a Lamb of God.
    • Refrain:"O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God.  O wash me in His precious blood, My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God (or ending for the 3rd verse) Till I am just a lamb of God."
(Words and music by Twila Paris, Copyright 1985 by Straightway Music/Mountain Spring Music)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this definitely seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His power as well as His work, a hymn of praise and supplication, and a spiritual song is intended to inspire or cultivate feelings of spiritual devotion.



Twila Paris (1958) is described by hymnary.org as "a contemporary Christian music songwriter, author, vocalist, and pianist."  Since 1980, she has released 22 albums, had 33 number one Christian radio singles, and has been named the Gospel Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year three years in a row (1993 - 1995).  Some of her more popular songs include "He Is Exalted", "We Bow Down", "We Will Glorify", and the focus of this commentary, "Lamb of God", all of which are found in many hymnals and sung in church settings.  According to CCM Singles, she has "helped to pioneer today's praise and worship music and contributed greatly to making this informal style acceptable to normally more conservative churches."

Well, let's see if any of that "informal" style has adversely affected the scriptural integrity of this hymn:
  1.  
    • "Your only Son no sin to hide,
      •  Some might argue about the use of the Greek word "monogenes", whether or not it refers to Jesus being "begotten" of God, but He is most certainly unique in His Sonship (John 3:16; "A Study of Monogenes").
      • He was also unique in that He was the only one in all of human history to be without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15)
    • But You have sent Him from Your side
    • To walk upon this guilty sod
      •  Paul does an extraordinary job of showing us our place when we are compared to God.  He quotes one Psalm after another in Romans 3:10-18 and sums it up by stating that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
    • And to become the Lamb of God.
  2.  
  3.  
    • "I was so lost I should have died, 
      •  As was quoted from Paul, all HAVE sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).
      • The price for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22)
    • But You have brought me to Your side, To be led by Your staff and rod,
    • And to become a lamb of God.
      •  See notes about the refrain's alternate ending ("...Till I am just a lamb of God.")
Refrain:
    • "O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God. 
    • O wash me in His precious blood, My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God."
      •  As we have seen earlier, Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29-30).
    • [alternate ending for final refrain]: O wash me in His precious blood, Till I am just a lamb of God."

Simply because it is more informal than some hymns may sound does not make it less of a hymn of praise, so long as it does not become so informal as to denote a lack of respect for the Almighty and His Gift of His Holy Lamb.

As always, I welcome your thoughts on this....


--bas4d


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work cited:
  • "A Study of Mongenes", Reflections Regarding Responsible Reformation, #26, http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx26.htm, by Al Maxey, 28 March, 2003.
  • "Artist Profile: Twila Paris," CCMSingles, http://www.newreleasetoday.com/artistdetail.php?artist_id=962, 4 March, 2016.
  • "GMA Dove Award for Vocalist of the Year,"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMA_Dove_Award_for_Vocalist_of_the_Year, 4 December, 2017.
  • "Twila Paris White," en. wikipedia.org, https://hymnary.org/person/Paris_T.




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Friday, April 13, 2018

Vol. 726: "We Saw Thee Not"




  1. "We saw Thee not when Thou didst come To this poor world of sin and death; Nor yet beheld Thy cottage home, In that despised Nazareth; But we believe Thy footsteps trod Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God; But we believe Thy footsteps trod Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God.
  2. "We saw Thee not when lifted high Amid that wild and savage crew; Nor heard we that imploring cry, "Forgive, they know not what they do!"  But we believe the deed was done, That shook the earth and veiled the sun; But we believe the deed was done, That shook the earth and veiled the sun.
  3. "We gazed not in the open tomb Where once Thy mangled body lay; Nor saw Thee in that "upper room," Nor met Thee on the open way; But we believe that angels said, "Why seek the Living with the dead?"  But we believe that angels said, "Why seek the Living with the dead?"
  4. "We walked not with the chosen few Who saw Thee from the earth ascend; Who raised to heaven their wandering view, Then low to earth all prostrate bend; But we believe that human eyes Beheld that journey to the skies; But we believe that human eyes Beheld that journey to the skies."


(Words by Anne Richter, Altered by John H. Gurney; Music by Knowles Shaw)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this definitely seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His work, but I think we could also call it a spiritual song that is intended to inspire or cultivate feelings of spiritual devotion as every verse is antithetically punctuated with "But we believe...".



This song was originally written by Mrs. Anne Richter in the early 19th century under the title "We Have Not Seen Thy Footsteps Tread."  It was altered from its original eight-verse form by John H. Gurney into the current four-verse version that is commonly sung in the United States and the United Kingdom today.  The music we typically sing for this song was composed by Knowles Shaw who wrote many other famous hymns including "I Am the Vine" and "Bringing in the Sheaves".

 The song goes through some of the accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus from His arrival and His residence in Nazareth to His final ascension before Pentecost.  As I wish to reprint the original eight-verse version of this hymn, I will briefly go through some points in the current version:


  1. "We saw Thee not when Thou didst come To this poor world of sin and death; (Matthew and Luke both go into more detail about Jesus' arrival on this planet)
    • "Nor yet beheld Thy cottage home, In that despised Nazareth; But we believe Thy footsteps trod Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God...."(although we have good evidence that Jesus grew up in Nazareth [Matthew 2:19-23] which was "a despised" town [John 1:45-46], we really don't know what kind of house the Lord grew up in.  Although Dictionary.com shows some definitions of cottage that seem somewhat less than humble, we can likely agree that the abode of His family likely was humble, which is probably the idea Mrs. Richter and Mr. Gurney were trying to convey.
  2. "We saw Thee not when lifted high Amid that wild and savage crew; (Jesus indicated that this was going to happen, that He would be lifted up from the earth on a cross [John 3:14-15; 12:27-33], and so He was [Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:33; John 19:18].  And to describe them as a "wild and savage crew" may have been too complimentary [Matthew 27:39-44; Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35-39])
  3. "We gazed not in the open tomb Where once Thy mangled body lay; [Luke 24:2-3; John 20:3-9]
    • "Nor saw Thee in that 'upper room,' (Luke indicates that Cleopas and his friend went to meet the disciples in Jerusalem [Luke 24:33-35] after their encounter with the resurrected Christ; John further points out that the disciples were in a place where the doors could be locked [John 20:19]; and Luke, in his second account, indicates that the disciples were staying in an upper room [Acts 1:12-13]; it's not certain that this was the exact same place they stayed before, but could be a good assumption.
    • "Nor met Thee on the open way; (this is the incident with Cleopas and his friend [Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-27])
    • "But we believe that angels said, 'Why seek the Living with the dead?' (although each Gospel account shows communication with the women who were the first to find Jesus' tomb empty, only in the account in Luke 24:5-8 do we see the angels asking this question.)
  4. "We walked not with the chosen few Who saw Thee from the earth ascend; Who raised to heaven their wandering view, Then low to earth all prostrate bend (Luke's second account does not make any indication of this showing of respect by the disciples as He rose from this earth [Acts 1:6-11]; it sounds nice, and fits the rhyme scheme of the rest of the verse, obviously some artistic license; the rest of the account is accurate, including their witness of Jesus' departure in the next line->); But we believe that human eyes Beheld that journey to the skies."


Now as I promised, here's the original song by Mrs. Richter.  Compare and see what you think:
1. We have not seen Thy footsteps tread This wild and sinful earth of ours, Nor heard Thy voice restore the dead Again to life’s reviving powers: But we believe—for all things are The gifts of Thine Almighty care.


2. We have not seen the billowy sea Grow calm and still at Thy command, Nor the dim orbs again to see, Beneath the healing of Thine hand: But we believe the Fount of light Again could give those eyeballs sight.


3. We did not see Thee tread the wave; We did not hear the voice from heaven, Which once with awful warning gave That God’s own Son for us was given. But we believe—oh! strengthen Thou The faith which to Thy name we owe.


4. We did not see the armed throng Steal to the garden’s midnight shade, And watch the palm-tree’s boughs among, Then quail beneath Thy glance afraid: But we believe—Almighty love Alone could such dark moments prove.


5. We did not see the darkness veil With sudden gloom the noon-day skies; Nor the fierce soldier’s cheek grow pale; And priestly mockery veil their eyes; When the proud Roman owned the power Of heaven, ’twas in that awful hour.


6. We did not hear the footsteps fall Within that lonely garden ground, Of the all-wakeful sentinel, Slow tracing there his watchful round; But we believe—the Holy One Bursting that tomb, in glory shone.


7. We were not with the chosen few Who saw Thee through the clouds ascend, Who gazed, and wished to follow too, Then on the earth all prostrate bend; But we believe that mortal eyes Beheld the journey to the skies.


8. Chase every shade of doubt away; Light of the World! in mercy shine; Illume with faith our erring way,We would no worship own but Thine. Bring us to heaven’s peaceful shore, And make us Thine forevermore!


As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments on this....


--bas4d
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Thursday, April 12, 2018

Vol. 273: "I Know the Lord Will Find a Way"




  1. "I know the Lord will find a way for me; I know the Lord will find a way for me; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
  2. "The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
  3. "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."


 Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His work, but also a hymn that teaches us about our dependence on God as well as His willingness to bless.



All the information I have found on authorship simply indicates that this is a traditional folk hymn/melody (at least Praise for the Lord indicates it to have been arranged by Palmer E. Wheeler).  If any other information is available, please forward it to me so I can update this commentary at a later time.

 This hymn has just a few recurring lyrics throughout, so rather than displaying the lyrics in outline form, I will comment on each phrase:
  • "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
    • Besides being the title to the song, it introduces the first verse (being sung twice) and concludes the first and second verses.
    • A question that has come up about this song could be phrased, "The Lord will find a way for me to what end? What way is He going to find for me?"
    • A brother and I have had discussions on this and we've narrowed it down to possibly meaning one of the following:
      • "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to heaven.
      • "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to escape temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
    • Hopefully we can flesh that out better as we study the remaining phrases from this song and we'll revisit this phrase towards the end of this commentary.
  • "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
    • This phrase introduces the third verse (sung twice) and closes it as well.
    • This is an allusion to Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25 (and the minas in Luke 19).
    • In both accounts, a ruler distributes his wealth to some of his stewards while he goes away on some other business.
    • When he returns, he settles accounts with them.
      • There are some stewards who return not only the original wealth with which they were entrusted but additional wealth which they had procured using his money.  To them, he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
      • But in both accounts, there is one steward who is fearful of his master, but only so much so that he hides the money entrusted to him (in one account, he buries the talent in the ground; in the other, he hides the mina in a napkin[!]).  Also in both accounts, the master refers to him as a wicked servant, withdraws the funds entrusted to him and gives them to the servant who had gained the most for the master.  And in Matthew's account, that "wicked and lazy servant" is ordered to be "cast...into outer darkness" where "[t]here will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"!
    • Interestingly enough, Matthew's writings go further as Jesus describes what is going to happen at "the end of the age".  He describes a scene where the "sheep" and the "goats" have been separated, one group on the right, the other on the left.  To those sheep on the right, He will say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world[!]"
    • All of these accounts bear witness that it will be grand to hear Him say, "Well done"!
  • "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
    • Let's take that apart piece by piece:
      • "If I walk in heaven's light...."  There are many passages of scripture that refer to this:
        • John 8:12, where Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
        • Paul has some interesting points about this in his letter to the Ephesians: "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible" (Ephesians 5:8-13).
        • John in his first letter also brings up an exceptional point about the reward we have of walking in the light: "[I]f we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:8).
      • "Shun the wrong and do the right,": "shun the wrong" can be rephrased as "turn away from evil."
        • David tells us in the 37th Psalm, "Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.  For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints.  They are preserved forever" (Psalm 37:27,28).
        • King Solomon has some good things to say about turning from evil:
        • Peter even quotes David from another Psalm: "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good ["shun the wrong and do the right"!]; let him seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:10-12; Psalm 34:12-16).
    • Therefore, we know it is good to "walk in heaven's light" (where we will be seeking to please the Lord AND be cleansed from sin) as well as to turn away from evil and do good.
  • "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
    • Another problem I have with this phrase is that it seems to limit God.  There is not a rogue particle in this universe that the Lord does not know about, and nothing that can take Him by surprise.  So, although it sounds like we have confidence in Him that He "will find a way for me," what is He searching for?  What is it He cannot find yet?
    • Therefore, I would propose that when the song is sung, the following changes should be considered:
      • "I know the Lord has made the way for me" [to be saved and go to heaven].
      • "I know the Lord will make the way for me" [to escape temptation].
    • This brings us back to the question with which we began this commentary: a way for what?
      • The first two verses give this as a condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me."
        • Side note: "[preaching] the Word to all the world" is a command by the Lord as the second verse says.  And if we seek to please Him, as we do by walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8,10), then we will keep His commands (John 14:15, 21).
        • Therefore, by preaching the Word, we are walking in the light and doing right.
      • In the third verse, besides asking the rhetorical question, it answers by giving a similar condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
      • We are given two statements of conditional probability: if A, then B.  if A, then C.
        • A: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
        • B: "I know the Lord will find a way for me"
        • C: "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'" [I will receive my reward!]
        • Taking it logically, if A then B (A -> B) and if A then C (A -> C), then B must be C.  Therefore, "the Lord will find a way" for me to go to heaven (to be saved) where it will "be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
      • Therefore, I posit that this song says "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to my reward in heaven!
As I have stated before, however, the phrasing makes it sound like the Lord is actively searching for a way for me to be saved and join Him in heaven.  That way has been provided through Jesus and what He did on the cross.  As there is salvation found in no other name than Christ's (Acts 4:8-12, emphasis on verse 12), God is not looking for any other way for us to be saved!

As such, I recommend that when this song is sung, it would behoove us to reword the main phrase and title of the song to say, "I know the Lord has made the way for me."  Even if one takes the position of the brother whom I mentioned earlier, who believes this refers to being provided with a way of escape from temptation, I would venture that, since time is nothing to the Almighty (2 Peter 3:8), who's to say that the means of escape wasn't already made (or known about ahead of time) by Him?

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments on this....


--bas4d


 


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