Posted April 9th, 2005
We welcome songwriter Nathan Copeland to Reformed Praise and are proud to offer his version of Be Still, My Soul! This beloved song has been a staple of worship for generations of Christians. These comforting lyrics describe the believer's desire to command their soul, as it were, to rest and trust in God. The phrase "be still," probably comes from Mark 4:30, where Jesus commands the wind and sea to be still, an act that brought His disciples to acknowledge Him as Lord and worship Him. In like manner, we want Jesus to command our souls to be still from grief, pain, fear of the future, and the death of loved ones. In the fourth verse, we realize that our soul will ultimately be still when we leave behind this sinful, grief-filled world for our heavenly home. The things described in verses 1-3 that cause our soul to be "unstill" are proclaimed to be "gone", "forgot", and "past".
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Posted July 15th, 2003
This popular hymn text is a beautiful reminder that salvation has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. We come to Christ for mercy without one plea, without anything we can offer on our behalf, and full only of rebellious and self-glorifying ways. This hymn writer certainly understood God's sovereignty in salvation - we see the doctrine of irresistible grace in the phrase "since you called I cannot flee". An original chorus was added that summarizes the theme of all of the verses - that we come with our sin and shame to the Lamb.
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Posted July 11th, 2003
This song was born out of a difficult time in the life of songwriter David Ward. Overwhelmed by responsibilities - chiefly that of teaching God's word, David felt more than ever his comprehensive, ever-present need for God's presence. This is a beautiful hymn that explains exactly why we need our Lord Jesus so much. Even though in this song we are taught that we need Him because our hearts are dead, because we are always struggling with doubt, and because we need a friend who can understand our sorrows, we will truly never know how much we really need Him!
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Posted July 10th, 2003
This song is based on Psalm 90, and reminds us that, while our lives are but temporary, God is the Rock of Ages. We desire to know this Lord of all our days, and to have our faith's endeavor crowned with glory when we see Him face to face in heaven. This song is a bit challenging for a congregation, but we have enjoyed much success with it at Calvary. We often have the guitar player only play some of the chords, as a piano player is able to handle the amount of chords better.
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Posted July 10th, 2003
This is another well-known hymn proclaiming the fact that we stand on the solid rock of Jesus alone. Whether it is for our justification or for safety in time of danger, both spiritual and physical, we find that Christ holds us fast in His powerful, loving arms. The words have been altered slightly to make them more clear and avoid words and word forms that are archaic, plus another line was added to the chorus to fill it out. May we sense our continued dependency on Christ as we approach Him in worship!
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Posted July 10th, 2003
This hymn is based on Psalm 81 and comes from the Psalms and Hymns of Reformed Worship collection (edited by Peter Masters). These beautiful lyrics express our desire to always obey our Lord, with gladness walking with Him all the days of our life. The motive for this obedience is seen in the verses of the song - because of our salvation we are set free to be holy and happy. May God grant us continued victories of grace in our lifelong battle against sin!
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Posted July 10th, 2003
Another well-known hymn, "Rock of Ages" expresses the fact that our salvation from sin is entirely God's work. Even if we could strive with unending zeal, give our best effort at repentance from sin, or bring our richest treasure, we can not atone for our sin before a Holy God. It is only by the work of Christ on our behalf, as the hymn writers says "Simply to Thy cross I cling". How powerfully does the last verse explain the depths of our sinfulness when the writer exclaims "Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, savior, or I die." Our worship will brim over in thankfulness as we dwell on all that God has accomplished on the cross!
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Posted July 10th, 2003
There are not many hymns or modern songs about trusting God, yet it is one of the most fundamental aspects of our Christian life. A life of faith is a life of trust - obeying God regardless of our present or expected circumstances. In this song, we pour out our heart to our Lord to tell Him that we trust Him for everything. Not only did we trust Him in salvation, but we continue to trust Him for power to obey, to supply all our real needs, and in the promise of future glory.
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