I Will Boast – Jeremiah, Paul, and Paul Baloche

What he had to say, the people did not like. In fact, Jeremiah the prophet (see depiction of Jeremiah [The Prophet Jeremiah (1511), from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo] here) did not much like what he had been given to tell the people of the southern kingdom of Judah either. ‘Don’t brag about yourself’ – that was the message that a descendant of this weeping prophet, someone named Paul, would recast some six centuries later, and which another Paul (Baloche) would repeat for us another 20 centuries later in history. If you want to brag, say “I Will Boast” because you know your Creator, the only righteous, just, and compassionate One, your Redeemer. You want His approval? Good, then practice those characteristics in your life, and see what that does for your outlook and rapport with Him and with others whom you know. It’s the only way to avoid eternal and terrestrial calamity, if you really take some time and think about what these three in history have had to say.

 

Jeremiah had the unenviable task during his prophetic mission (between 626 and sometime after 586 B.C., so around 40 years) of telling Judah’s inhabitants that doom was coming. Here’s a paraphrase of his message: ‘The land will be laid waste, and exile to Babylon awaits. If you want to prostrate yourselves and admit that you’ve violated the covenant with the Lord God, and reengage with the true One, here’s what you have to do, though your punishment cannot be avoided ultimately’. Then Jeremiah tells them in some short directives what Paul Baloche repeats in his musical rendition in 2006. Don’t boast in or count on the following: your wisdom, your strength, or your riches (Jeremiah 9:23-24). That covers an awful lot in the human experience, and the penchant to chase after these still entices a lot of people today, some 26 centuries after Jeremiah first delivered this rebuke. The great apostle Paul must have taken note of his ancestor’s words, for he too talks about boasting pretty frequently, and then tells his contemporaries in the first century that any such crowing should be exclusively connected with Christ. (Paul wrote at least nine times in five New Testament letters about boasting in Christ [Romans 5:11; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 10:14; 11:10; 12:9; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 1:26; 2:16; 3:3].) His namesake 2000 years hence has thus connected what Jeremiah said so long ago with the apostle’s instructions, in order to consummate some ordinances for a God follower’s lifestyle in our current era. The 21^st Century Paul links our boasting to being ‘humble’ and full of ‘thanks’ for Him because He created us in His image and has saved us (v.1 of  ‘I Will Boast’). So, boast in the ‘Lord’, the ‘worthy’ One, in fact ‘in Christ alone’, Paul Baloche says over and over. It never gets old.     

 

What Jeremiah says after his warning about the harlots of human wisdom, strength, and riches is fairly important also, and when lived out today are pretty meaningful. Paul Baloche mentions humility in his lyrics, versus what Jeremiah says in the latter words of his two verses – that kindness, justice, and righteousness are the ways to please God. It sounds a lot like what another prophet, Micah (6:6-8), had already said to the northern kingdom of Samaria approximately 100 years earlier (sometime between 750 and 686 B.C.), in his warning to those people of what was approaching. If worship – true worship – to the true God is not connected to heart-level attitudes like kindness (mercy), justice among people, and ability to humble oneself to Him, then all the sacrifices on earth you can make won’t matter to God. He’s a righteous God, Jeremiah said, and He expects His image-bearers to mimic Him in these key character traits that He gave to His prophets to tell us. Be kind, practice justice, and be humble, if you want to know what righteous living resembles. That is so needed today in early 2025, so get out there and boast in a shining Christ-likeness everyone…or will we need another weeping prophet to come preach?

 

Read about the contemporary author-composer here: Paul Baloche - Wikipedia 

 

See information on the image of Jeremiah here: File:Michelangelo Buonarroti 027.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing -- Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson’s biography is not an easy one to hear, though it has its high points. His story ebbs and flows, as you might guess if you pay close attention to the words of the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” that he wrote in 1758. He never forgot from where he’d come, and knowing what happened later on in his life, you wonder if he was trying to warn his hearers, that he was afraid of slipping back into old habits. The hymns he wrote must have been a reminder of what he had obtained, and the distance he had traveled to make his purchase of a new life. Did the fountain keep flowing for him, in impressive fashion (like King Fahd’s fountain in Saudi Arabia in the picture)?

Robinson’s was not an easy beginning. His parents could not offer much of advantage in his early life in 18^th Century England, and his father died when he was just eight. His mother sent him to barber school in London when he was 14, but he befriended some local gang-members too, an apparently inauspicious turn of events for a future God-follower, preacher, and songwriter. He suddenly changed direction at age 17 upon hearing a George Whitefield tent meeting sermon, however, and eventually became a minister himself. Six years later, he wrote the words of this hymn “Come Thou Fount…”, perhaps his first, his reach for the God he must have felt he needed to cover many faults in his life. Verses two through five each express his spiritual hope in light of his own shortcomings, and the longing of his inner being for Eternity. What’s it like to leave an old life, making a radical switch like Robinson did? It would not be unusual for old acquaintances to scoff, reminding the newly clean convert of the dirt he once wore. Gangs are kind of like that. Robinson stayed true to his newfound faith; his “Ebenezer” (stone of help) expression in the hymn was as unique as his life. First a Methodist, then an Independent, and later a Baptist minister, he was known as a capable theologian and hymn writer, although only two of his hymns are known (the other was “Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee, written in 1774 when Robinson was 39). Other accounts say he turned to Unitarianism late in life, showing his ‘wandering’ streak, of which he wrote in his first hymn.

It’s also reported widely that Robinson must have felt despondent late in life, particularly during an encounter with a woman in a stagecoach who was studying the hymn he wrote decades earlier. Had his passion waned from the time when he’d first penned the words of “Come Thou Fount”? Perhaps, but that would make him no more unusual than others of faith who have ups and downs. At least Robinson was honest and genuine with his hymn-writing, knowing and sharing his own foibles. Robinson died suddenly in 1790 at age 54, an apparent struggler and searcher, but someone whose authentic words over two centuries old still sound familiar today…at least if I’m willing to share the way Robinson did.         

Information on the song is in many publications, including the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications,1990; “101 Hymn Stories”, by Kenneth Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982;“The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and “A Treasury of Hymn Stories”, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House Company, 1945. 

Also see the following website for information on Robinson and the original five verses of the song:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/r/o/b/robinson_r.htm

See a more extensive biography of Robinson at : http://www.hymnary.org/person/Robinson_R?tab=texts

Be Still and Know -- Anonymous

I cannot say I’ve ever met someone with a messianic complex, have you? Oh, lots of individuals think pretty highly of themselves, and maybe even some could be classified as true nutburgers that really believer in some warped way that they are a divine gift to the rest of us. But really, what would it be like to hear the following sincere words that go something like this? ‘I’m the Lord God, and you can be certain of this, so you’d better listen to me if you want me to help you’. No sane person would claim the copyright on this statement. Only the true God Himself could author words like that, and back them up with action. Perhaps that’s why this song “Be Still and Know” has no acknowledged composer by name.


Although the song “Be Still and Know” has no earthly individual composer that is known, its inspiration can be traced with some specificity. The words that match the song’s title may be from one of the Psalms – Psalm 46:10. Commentators and editors of the Bible indicate that some professional worshippers, Korahites, may have been the originators of the words written in that Psalm, and therefore the composers of at least some of the words that we sing. Korahites were not just any worshippers, but as the name suggests they were descendents of Korah, the great-grandson of Levi. He was a privileged servant in tabernacle worship, but in his conceit and jealousy for more, he rebelled against Moses (Numbers 16). And so, God had him swallowed up in the earth, along with scores of others, because of his impudence. Do you think generations later, the oral history of Korah’s demise was remembered by his descendents? Check out the other words in Psalm 46, and God spells out the context of ‘being still’ before Him. There’s turmoil on earth, fighting that God terminates (v. 9) so that the creation will be silent and in awe of Him. I have thought of “Be Still and Know” as a tender, soft prompting by God, but thinking of Korah, I wonder if this isn’t instead a warning that his grandkids and great-grandkids want me to heed. The words of a 2nd verse of “Be Still and Know” -- that the Lord strengthens us – may have derived from the ages in which God promises healing (Exodus 15:26). Which one of us doesn’t need this promise, either physically or spiritually? Perhaps this original pledge to Moses’ people for deliverance from Egypt is the same one that prophets (Isaiah 41:10 or Zechariah 10:6) picked up later and echoed for worshippers.

There’s a hope ringing in these words for us who feel beaten. If not now on earth, then later, I hear Him say. Does worship really connect me with Him, one might legitimately ask? If I pay attention to the words, it seems the intended audience of most of the songs I sing are either others around me or God Himself – both very appropriate, as I edify others or offer my praise directly to Him. “Be Still and Know” is most unusual, because the singer is actually God, who’s using my voice to vocalize His message directly into my being. I become His audience. Someone might say ‘all worship songs are from God’ if a composer allows the Spirit to work in their creation. True. I don’t have to be retold that truth in“Be Still and Know” – I just listen.

Information on Psalm 46 and other Bible verses from which part of the song “Be Still and Know” may have sprung was obtained from study notes in the NIV Study Bible, copyright 1985 by the Zondervan Corporation, general editor Kenneth Barker and associate editors Donald Burdick, John Stek, Walter Wessel, and Ronald Youngblood.