Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,

Let me share a passage, “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge” (Psalm 7:1 – ESV).  Today is Veteran's Day, and I want to pay homage to those who served our country by being part of the many branches of the armed service by sharing the history of a famous hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.”  This hymn is called the Navy Hymn.  Its author was William Whiting in 1860, a British master of Winchester College Choristers' School.  The occasion for this hymn to be written was when a student of the school where Whiting was a teacher, shared that he was traveling to the United States, and he had some fears about going on a ship in the middle of the ocean and possibly being caught in a storm.  Whiting give him comfort by sharing his own experience when several year before he was in the midst of a heavy storm and God (Whiting believed this) calmed the tempest.  His faith in God became a strong pillar; he knows that the Holy Trinity can control the elements, and this give consolation to the young man.  After this conversation, the lyrics came to Whiting, and a new hymn was born.  It has become a favorite of naval people in English-speaking countries, both civilian and military.

In America, its affiliation as the “Navy Hymn” is prompted in part by the practice dating from 1879 of concluding the Sunday services at the Naval Academy at Annapolis with the first stanza of this hymn.

William Whiting knew that the Triune God can control nature, and that is why each stanza is an invocation to each person of the Holy Trinity for help in the midst of troubles, especially those on the sea.

Enjoy the lyrics, and use them as a prayer to God who is the only Savior that we can trust.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and pow'r,
Your children shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
Protect them where-so-e'er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

In His service,
Israel

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