Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.” (Psalm 95:4).

The creation of the whole universe is in Genesis 1, and you are very familiar with this passage. This part of the Scripture is great to teach kids about God as the creator of the animals, plants, mountains, rivers, and man, Adam and his wife, Eve. This passage is great for deep theological studies: God creating everything from nothing, the Trinity involved in the whole process of creation, and many other topics. But also, this passage is a call to worship our God as the Creator and the source of life.

Isaac Watts was born on 17 July 1674, son of a schoolmaster. He was very smart since childhood, learning Latin when he was 4 years old, and able to write poems when he was 7. Let me share a little story about how good he was to create poems from an early age.

“Watts displayed a propensity for rhyme from an early age. He was once asked why he had his eyes open during prayers, to which he responded:
A little mouse for want of stairs
ran up a rope to say its prayers.
He received corporal punishment for this, to which he cried:
O father, father, pity take
And I will no more verses make.”

At home, his family was part of a congregationalism church, and Watts himself became a minister of this Calvinist tradition.

Being Calvinist, Watts learned to worship God using the psaltery, metrical psalms, but his desire was to clothe the psalms with Christian robe, and he created hymns using Psalms with a New Testament language.

After this introduction, I want to share that Isaac Watts used the first chapter of the Bible to write a lovely hymn, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.” In this hymn, we extol the power, wisdom, and goodness of God as seen in the created order. We recognize that it is God who has made all these beautiful wonders, and that it is He who keeps the world in order through His ever-present care.

“I sing the mighty power of God
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at His command
And all the stars obey.”

This hymn was written for children, but it is good for adults as well, because it has sound doctrine. It can be used for quiet time, praising the Lord for his creation.

“There's not a plant or flower below
But makes Thy glories known;
And clouds arise and tempests blow
By order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee
Is ever in Thy care,
And ev'rywhere that man can be,
Thou, God, art present there.”

“31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.” (Psalm 104:31-34)

Enjoy creation but worship the Creator.
​
In His service,
Israel