Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,

“1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
    and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:1-4) (ESV).

Perhaps you are very familiar with the hymn “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” by Isaac Watts. This powerful hymn is Watts’ finest paraphrase of the Psalm 90.

We have talked about Isaac Watts in the past, and we know that he was very smart child, learning Latin when he was four years old, and he was able to write some poetry when he was seven years old. In 1702, he became a pastor, and during his ministry time, he wrote many hymns. Today’s hymn was written in 1719.

“Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!”

Isaac Watts wrote many hymns to exalt the name of the Lord and they were paraphrases of psalms. "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" expresses a strong note of assurance, promise, and hope in the LORD as recorded in the first part of Psalm 90.

Watts’ original version had nine stanzas, but now we just sing six of them. Also, his original text started as “Our God, our help…” but John Wesley changed it for the version that now we are very familiar with, “O God, our help…”

“A thousand ages in your sight
Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.”

The melody is a solemn tune, and the composer was William Croft, and was originally created to be sang for the 42 Psalm but now it is more familiar with Watts’ 90 Psalm. And it became so popular that even Johann Sebastian Bach composed a prelude and fugue for organ, based on this melody. Also, George Frederich Handel created a choral piece using this hymn.

In England, this hymn became almost like a second national anthem, because British people use this hymn during national occasions, after all, Isaac Watts is called the “Father of the hymn in English language.”

“Time, like an ever-rolling stream
bears all its sons away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.
O God, our Help in ages past,
our Hope for years to come,
be Thou our Guard while life shall last,
and our eternal Home!”

During our hard time, difficult moments, let us sing Isaac Watts’ hymn with assurance, knowing that our God is our help, our hope, our guard, and our eternal home.
​
In His service,
Israel