Hello OCBC family,
 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1).

A powerful hymn that we love to sing is “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, which is an echo of the Psalm 103.

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.”

The author of this hymn was Joachim Neander, born in 1650, and his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, had the same name and all of them were preachers of the gospel. With Joachim, the story was a little different, because, when he was a student, Joachim was wild and rebellious, and religion or a relationship with God was not part of his life. When he was 20, he joined a group of young men to go to a particular church to ridicule the worshipers. But that Sunday, Rev. Theodore Under-Eyck preached the gospel, and Joachim became a Christian, and a few years later, he became an assistant preacher in this same church.

Joachim loved to walk near his home, but these walks were worship walks: praying, meditating in the word of God, and composing hymns of praise and worship. We might say that Joachim was the first hymnwriter from the Calvinist branch of Protestantism.

He battled tuberculosis and was very sick and died when he was 30 years old, and this hymn was the last one that he wrote.

“Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?”

One thing that we can notice from this hymn is that Joachim wrote this hymn not directly to God but to his own soul, encouraging himself to praise the Lord, the Almighty.

The melody is a German melody from 1665, but Neander altered the melody a little to match with his lyrics. This hymn and its melody became very popular, that even J. S. Bach wrote a cantata using Neander’s hymn.

“Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.”

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!” (Psalm 148:1).

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “For I proclaim the name of the Lord:
Ascribe greatness to our God.” Deuteronomy 32:3

This short passage of the Bible was the inspiration for a powerful hymn, “Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above.” The author of this hymn was Johann J. Schutz, born in Germany on Sept. 7, 1640. We don’t know too much about his childhood, but he went to school and became a lawyer. Therefore, he became very well known for his legal expertise and his piety. He was a faithful Lutheran. This hymn is part of a short collection that he created, with five hymns in total, but three were translated into English.

“Sing praise to God who reigns above,
The God of all creation.
The God of pow'r, the God of love,
The God of our salvation;
With healing balm my soul He fills,
And ev'ry faithless murmur stills:
To God all praise and glory!”

You can see that in the very first stanza, Schutz has an explosion of praises to God as the Creator and to whom salvation belongs.

The third stanza is a powerful testimony telling those who can hear or sing, that the Lord is always near when we are in trouble. This verse comforted me four years ago when I lost my mother.

“The Lord is never far away,
But, thro' all grief distressing,
An ever-present help and stay,
Our peace and joy and blessing;
As with a mother's tender hand
He leads His own, His chosen band:
To God all praise and glory!”

The melody is a German tune called, MIT FREUDEN ZART, and was published in 1566 in the Bohemian Brethren hymnal.

Schutz finished this hymn with an exhortation to himself (and to us) to praise God with all his being, heart, soul, and body.

“Thus all my toilsome way along
I sing aloud His praises,
That all may hear the grateful song
My voice unwearied raises;
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart!
Both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory!”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, and say with Schutz, “Gebt unserm Gott die Ehre!” (To God all praise and glory).
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
 “Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2).

During my quiet time, this passage of Isaiah touched my heart very deeply, and I learned that this passage was also the fountain to inspire a very lovely hymn, “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”

The author of this hymn was Louisa M. R. Stead, and she was from Dover, England. She was born about 1850, and when she was nine years old, she became a Christian. From a very early age, she had a desire to serve the Lord on the mission field. When she was 21 years old, she moved to the United States, and during a revival meeting, she was very sure that the Lord was calling her as missionary overseas.

Her first aim was to serve the Lord in China, but her health was not good at that time. It is during this time that she married Mr. Stead, but sadly, between 1879 or 1880, Mr. Stead drowned off the coast of Long Island. There are several versions of this tragic accident, like, he was trying to save a boy who was drowning. Another says that he and the boy died, yet another version is that he was saving his own daughter, but the facts are unclear.

After this sad situation, Louisa went with her daughter to South Africa as a missionary and it was during this time that she wrote this famous hymn.
“'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”

She married to her second husband, Robert Wodehouse, and they served as missionaries for fifteen years. Because of her health, they returned to United States, and where they served in a local Methodist church.

After her health was restored, this couple went to a missionary conference, where they accepted once again, to serve the Lord in Africa.

“O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!”

Her legacy continued even after her passing in 1917, because her daughter married missionary D. A. Carson, and together they served the Lord for many years in Zimbabwe.

If the Lord called you to serve, follow his voice and trust in Him, because He will be with you during this journey.

“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!”

Let me close this article with the words from Psalm 56:11,
“In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.”
​
In His service,
Israel