I Love Hymns

In C. S. Lewis' story The Last Battle, many of the talking beasts in Narnia were deceived by a donkey wearing a lion's skin, who was giving orders and claiming to be the lion Aslan. When orders were given which seemed out of character for the real Aslan, doubts arose, but one line was repeated which kept the animals from entertaining serious doubts against the imposter: “He's not a tame lion, you know.” One line of truth used to conceal other truths, like Satan quoting Scripture to Jesus in His wilderness temptation. Feist is almost right when she says, the truth lies.



God help the church to not be so easily deceived when the world echos the serpents words, “Did God really say...”. It is one of my goals as a parent to have my children know the truth so well, even at their young ages, that they would be able to recognize a false gospel and other doctrinal errors. That is one of the reasons I love my children learning hymns. So many important doctrines are communicated in the hymns I love. And when I hear my little ones singing, “God and sinners reconciled...” from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, I hope that their minds are being fortified against error through the truths they are enmeshed in.



Even if not everyone loves the tunes which the great hymns are set to, no one should miss the doctrine contain in them. We learn about God's sovereignty in Praise to the Lord, the Almighty: “Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wonderously reigneth.” We see our own frailty in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing: “Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” We see the power of the gospel in O For A Thousand Tongues: “He breaks the power of canceled sin...His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.” We learn about Christ's three-fold office in Praise Him! Praise Him!: “Prophet and priest and king!” The trinity is articulated in Holy God We Praise Thy Name, which says, “Though in essence only one, undivided God...”. God's immutability is seen in Great is Thy Faithfulness: “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not...”. We admit our likeness to Adam, and Christ's role as the second Adam in Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: “Adam's likeness now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place: Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.” God's Word is called, “..the golden casket where gems of truth are stored...the chart and compass...[which] guides, O Christ, to Thee.” in O Word of God Incarnate. We see what our affections ought to be in Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart: “...make me love thee as I ought to love...I see the cross, there teach my soul to cling...teach me the patience of unanswered prayer...”. We are reminded of God's purpose for trials in How Firm a Foundation: “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie...The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

I know I will wince tomorrow about the hymns I forgot to include which deserve to be mentioned. I'm sure I've mentioned enough to get my point across. But I have to include this funny depiction of the difference between chorus and hymns:

A Funny Little Story About Hymns and Praise Songs
By Author Unknown
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the farmer. “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses?” asked the wife. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.
The farmer said, “Well it’s like this … If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you, ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, in the CORN, CORN, CORN, COOOOORRRRRNNNNN,’ then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus.”
As luck would have it, the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the young man, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”
“Hymns?” asked the wife. “What are those?”
“They’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.
The young man said, “Well it’s like this … If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you,
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn,
then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and change keys on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

History and Sovereignty

Even children know a good history book when they read it. My favorite history books are those which show connections between influential people, people who had formerly existed in separate spheres in my mind, or make connections between the mundane events in history and the pivotal ones, showing that history is not just a series of unrelated names and dates.




While recently studying Michelangelo, my boys and I learned that he was raised in the home of the famous Medici family. One of the children he was raised with later became Pope Leo X, the same pope who used the sale of indulgences to help pay for the building of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo worked as an architect on St. Peter's. The sale of these indulgences is what led Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses, which is considered by many historians as the start of the Protestant Reformation. Luther was later excommunicated by this same Pope Leo X of the Medici family.

While studying the history of England, I read about King Charles II of England's attempt to ban the newly introduced coffee and coffeehouses, issuing A Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffeehouses. In coffeehouses, he reasoned, defamation against his government was spread, so coffeehouses should be banned. When it looked as if people would revolt and overthrow the monarchy (as they had during his father's reign, King Charles I, who was eventually beheaded), he withdrew the ban. This King Charles II is the same one who kept John Bunyan imprisoned for preaching without a license. Prior to this, as a youth, John Bunyan was stuck in a moat and was helped out by a stranger, who later he found out to be Oliver Cromwell. This is the same Cromwell who was in charge of the army which overthrew the monarchy of King Charles I. It's amazing how intertwined events and people are.

In our own small sphere, we don't always see the lives which are affected by our words and our actions. But that doesn't make it any less real. The one who plants and the one who waters isn't necessarily there to see the growth of the fruit (I Corinthians 3:6-7). But that doesn't make the fruit any less real. 1 Peter 3:16 explains that a watching world will be put to shame by the good conduct of believers, and as my pastor has reminded us often while preaching through I Peter, our conduct matters. Yet though we know that our conduct matters, we also know that God is sovereignly orchestrating all of history for His glory.

Philippians 1:29 tells us that God has granted that His people should suffer, and He has granted us faith. We should acknowledge His sovereign control over all our suffering. We should acknowledge Him as the giver of faith. That God has ultimate and immediate control of the best that can happen and the worst that happens speaks to everything in between. God is in control of all of history. That's why Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”




In Chosen By God, R.C. Sproul makes the point that when the soveriegnty of God is taught, people sometimes consider that the same as teaching Calvinism. But in actuality, teaching that God is sovereign is simply to teach theism. A god who is not in control is not God.

We don't always like to think that the events which cause our pains and our joys are under the control of a sovereign God. We would rather, at times, have the outcome be determined by our feeble power and foresight, because we think that we really do know what is best. But praise God that those things which He has purposed in Himself are accomplished, and that our obtaining His inheritance does not depend on our work, but on His.