WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, OUR REDEEMER, was written by Julia Cory. Her father was a Sunday school superintendent who encouraged her, while she was still young, to write hymns.
One day the music director, at her church, asked her to compose some new lyrics to be sung to the tune of the popular Thanksgiving hymn, "We Gather Together."
About two weeks later, Julia had produced this new hymn.
In the new testament, the apostle Paul instructed the churches to speak to themselves with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Paul’s instructions are beneficial to most Christians because there is so much doctrine that is learned and retained in the songs we sing.
But, on the other hand, Psalm 30:4 commands us, "Sing to the Lord, you saints of His; praise His holy Name."
We have many songs that remind us or encourage us to praise our God, but we often forget that He also wants us to sing praises directly to Him. This hymn is one of a few that does exactly that.
This simple hymn identifies eight activities that God desires from His people:
- Our praises
- Our thanksgiving
- Our tributes
- Our submission
- Our love
- Our worship
- Our unity with other believers
- And Our singing
- He is our Redeemer
- He is our Creator
- He is the God of our fathers
- He is our Guide
- He is our Deliverer
- He is our Defender
- He is our Lord
- And He is ever-present with us
The third stanza concludes with a direct proclamation of praise; “To Thee, our great Redeemer, forever be praise."
Julia’s hymn was first used in her church’s Thanksgiving Day service just a few weeks after she wrote it. One month later, her father wanted to use it for a Christmas service at their church, so he asked her to add a stanza about the incarnation.
The new (fourth) stanza, which alludes to the message of John 3:16, is a song of thanksgiving to God for sending His Son to die for the salvation of those whom He loved.
The Christmas stanza says:
Thy love Thou didst show us,
Thine only Son sending,
Who came as a babe and whose bed was a stall,
His blest life He gave us
And then died to save us;
We praise Thee, O Lord, for Thy gift to us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment