It Is Good to Sing Your Praises -- Anonymous Psalmist

 

This worshipper wanted something that would mark the Sabbath Day appropriately. And, though it was called ‘day’, the Sabbath (known as the Shabbat in Hebrew) actually began on Friday at sunset (a sunset at this blogger’s address was captured on 26 September 2025, shown here), perhaps a time marked in a quiet and yet sublime majesty in color that declared the Creator’s hand was still at work, like that shown in the photo here. That would have been reason enough to begin the praise hymn as this anonymous psalmist did on that occasion, as one of the opening lines of the hymn spoke of His artistry in the sky above. “It Is Good to Sing Your Praises”, he said, as he reflected on the various ways that Yahweh had blessed those he had made, and especially those whom He had chosen as His cherished possession. Think about that for a few moments…can the blessedness of you be diminished when you look at the sky and realize that the universe’s composer is the same One who has selected you?  

 

Perhaps that was the thought process of this nameless songwriter, that he wanted to acknowledge God’s goodness and almighty nature in one breath. That would be a rather daunting proposition, would it not? But that rather impossible task did not stop this psalmist perhaps as long as 3,000 years ago from jotting down something that was meant to be used on the Sabbath, according to biblical scholars. In fact, Psalm 92, from which ‘It Is Good…’ draws its verses in a close paraphrase, is the only psalm with the superscription ‘For the Sabbath Day’ associated with it. So, it seems likely that this psalm would have been uttered-sung by faithful Jews every 7^th Day, a day dedicated to the Lord as He directed them in the 4^th Commandment (see Exodus 20:8 and Deuteronomy 5:12). To laud Him for His creativity in what one could see in nature was one theme in the psalmist’s poetry, interspersed throughout the verses and recalled in the paraphrase of ‘It Is Good…’, when the 1912 version with three musical verses was first published. That 20^th Century writer used phrases ‘…morning lights the sky’, and ‘…good when night is falling’ (v.1), ‘…works Thy hands have wrought’ (v.2), and ‘…planted…fruitful trees and ever verdant’ (v.3) to echo what the original psalmist penned. A second theme is how God had made the psalmist a blessed person indeed – ‘…my life victorious’ (v.2), and ‘…His goodness to the righteous’, and ‘…my rock, my strength and refuge’(v.3). This carried with it an acknowledgement of God’s omnipotence and sovereignty --  ‘…(He is) on high exalted, reignest evermore in might’ (v.2)  -- and of necessity, His justice for those engaged in wrongdoing – ‘…enemies shall perish, sin banished (v.2), and ‘…just and true are His ways’ (v.3).

 

It never grows old or irrelevant, does it? The facets of God that the psalmist saw are the same ones that still endure today. There are other songs that speak of God in the same way as does ‘It Is Good…’, and yet this Psalm 92 retranslation (now over a century old itself, since its inception in 1912) has a distinctiveness that is useful for us who aspire to devotion. As the only psalm specifically written for the Sabbath Day, the songwriter was intent on making sure that he didn’t sing just anything randomly, but constructed something that would remind himself and the worshippers of how they related to God in the most fundamental ways. He’s a creative being, which we humans cannot ignore, and so much of what we see from His hand speaks of His basic goodness. He’s good, and draws to Himself, and protects and nourishes those who want to be His. Do you and I have a better option than Him who has such a nature? You’re in no better hands than in Him whose hands the ancient psalmist saw draw the morning and evening skies. Take a look outside in the morning and evening, and see if you agree.     

 

Read about the Sabbath here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath

 

Read some details of the hymn here, including when a 20^th Century version of the psalm was first published: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/t/i/s/itisgood.htm

 

See the NIV Study Bible and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible for information on Psalm 92.

Holy Is the Lord -- Anonymous Seraphim

 

Isaiah saw and heard them saying this, and it must have been an awesome experience. How many seraphim Isaiah saw is not shared by the ancient prophet (Two seraphim [Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry] surround God in the 14th-century illuminated manuscript shown here, courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.), but what they said was so powerful that is shook the foundations and terrified the one who was witness to this vision. “Holy Is the Lord” is only a partial rendering of this thunderous exclamation. It makes those of us who’ve yet to see Him close up, or indeed any of his servants in His holy throne room, pause and reconsider how we are to live and best approach His seat of perfection, the standard by which His judgement will rest on each of us. How could anyone face such purity, being aware of one’s grimy condition?

 

That question was undoubtedly what so troubled Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3-5), as he cowered in the presence of the Almighty God and His seraphim. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”(v.5) Isaiah knew that it was dangerous to actually lay eyes upon the Lord God, for Moses had once asked God about this and had been warned that such a sight would be fatal (Exodus 33:20-23). So, that must have told the prophet what a grave risk it was to even be in His presence. If seeing was perilous, might not hearing also be just as hazardous? And it wasn’t just that God was being described as holy, but rather as holy multiplied three times, and therefore an emphasis on the infinite nature of His being. This was further underscored with what the Seraphim added -- the whole earth is full of his glory. He’s not just in one place but everywhere, making any effort to hide from this Divine One a futile exercise. All you can do is bow and beg for mercy. At least, that’s probably what Isaiah reckoned was his only recourse. What does one do, after all, during an earthquake when the doorposts and thresholds shake and a room is filled with smoke (v. 4)? I try to find cover or get out of the way of heavy objects that might crush my body. And, that was just a consequence of the sound of the words from the beings who proclaimed Him, the object of their announcement. Declaring Him is therefore a formidable assignment, as these heavenly beings must have understood intrinsically. Do we as humans, made in His image, always grasp that when we use His name or call out to Him?

 

Thank God for the next few verses of Isaiah chapter 6, for without them we’d have no hope. Instead, a seraph touched Isaiah with the God-provided medicine to atone for his mistakes (vv.6-7), prompting Isaiah to respond positively to the Lord’s call for a messenger. He responded in his era (7^th and 8^th Centuries BC), and I am one who can also respond some 28 centuries later. Though the seraphim did not mention them, there’s two other members of the Godhead that are so very important, Ones He has provided. Indeed, One is the embodiment of the metaphorical coal that touched Isaiah’s lips – Jesus Messiah – who compensates for my wrongs before the Holy Father; and the other is the Spirit, my guide, advocate, and counselor (John 14:15-31) who gives me daily what I need to stay in touch with God. I am thus released from danger when I echo the words of the seraphim. I can sing of the holiness of Him three times over, and honor the Son and the Spirit in the same breath, all without fear, even as I stand in awe of Him. Just picture His seraph-servant touching you with a piece of coal with Jesus’ imprint on it, while the Spirit translates God’s embrace.    

 

There have been many songs containing the words ‘Holy Is the Lord’, but see the Songs of Faith and Praise hymnal (hymn #32), by Howard Publishing, 1994, for the version discussed in this blog entry. This version of this song-hymn is also found here: https://hymnary.org/text/holy_holy_holy_holy_is_the_lord_holy_hol

 

Read here about the creatures that uttered the words of this song. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seraphim_-_Petites_Heures_de_Jean_de_Berry.jpg …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….image is found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

Give to Our God Immortal Praise -- Isaac Watts

 

Isaac Watts was most likely doing what he was known for most as he composed the words for “Give to Our God Immortal Praise”. It was a talent he’d had since childhood, and when fused to his knowledge of scripture as an adult, Isaac was doing something that perhaps was about as natural for him as breathing is for the rest of us. It was 1719 (or perhaps earlier) when this 45-year-old minister in England (see its flag here) penned some rhyming phrases that expressed what he coaxed his hearers to remember and appreciate about the God that earlier generations had first lauded in a different form that Isaac felt compelled to reconstruct. It was a method based on a philosophy that he’d learned from his own father, and it could be summed up this way: Don’t worship by rote, nor conform to a practice of one’s Christian faith that is compelled by a state authority. One’s faith must by freely practiced to be genuine. God does not want your worship to be mechanical…make it personal, with words that say what you really feel in your own vernacular.

 

Isaac Watts’ Nonconformism – objection to the exclusivity of state-authorized methods of Christian worship in 17^th Century England – included his practice of rewriting traditional songs used in the Anglican Church, including the Psalms. Watts evidently felt that merely mouthing the exact words of a psalm was not conducive to sincere worship, and so he sought to take the ideas that a psalmist had verbalized centuries earlier and recraft and update them so that they would resonate with Christianity in his own experience. One that he took on as a challenge was apparently Psalm 136, which contains a very familiar song of its own for the Jewish people. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Indeed, those first words of Psalm 136 are the words that Isaac felt compelled to repeat in verse one his own version in ‘Give to Our God…’. The latter phrase ‘his love endures forever’, is voiced 26 times in the psalm, so you can imagine that Isaac might have wondered whether this expression had become rote in the singing of the psalm in the Anglican Church. And, would the Christians of Watts’ era have had more reason to praise God than what the Hebrews acknowledged when they sang Psalm 136? Watts did not want to excise the thought of repetition, so instead he had the churchgoers of his own era sing ‘Repeat His mercies in your song’ to conclude alternating verses (verses 1, 3, 5, and 7) as well as the phrase 'his mercies ever shall endure' (verses 2,4,6,8) of his hymn’s eight stanzas, as a way of reminding worshippers what their spiritual ancestors had done. The Jewish generations sang of God’s creative power, and of his mercy in rescuing them from Egypt, to bring them to their inheritance in Canaan. Watts added to the psalmist’s message by recognizing the Gentiles’ predicament -- dead in sin (in Watts’ original verse 6) -- and what the Father has done through Christ for everyone -- He sent His Son with pow­er to save (in Watts’ original verse 7) – with the latter being something that none of the Psalms could fully capture for those of us freed by Jesus. Thank God that Isaac and others of his time had the courage to challenge their era’s conventions and prompt Christians to exalt the Son for what he’s done!

 

Psalm 136 says much of value to praise God, but what would it be like if Christ had been forced out of the picture by a state that said you could not change the words of the ancient text to give it more meaning in the A.D. era? Isaac saw a big gap there, and indeed his life was spent making the old texts for singing mean more. We learn new words for saying the same message, but by doing so we can make them more personal. That’s what Isaac was after. This father/godfather of English hymnody (he reportedly wrote some 750 hymns) was part of a movement that has continued for centuries beyond his own time. It is about making the themes and expressions of Christianity more meaningful for each generation, by using new words to say the ancient thoughts one more time in one more new way. It’s rather ironic that sometimes you might hear some people say ‘why aren’t the old hymns good enough…why can’t we just sing an old Isaac Watts hymn’? Hmmm…if we could see Isaac’s face today, would he be wearing a wry smile, or rolling his eyes? Giving Him praise isn’t suspended just because we’re using new words.              

  

See all the hymn’s original verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/g/i/v/e/t/givetour.htm

 

Also see the following website for information about Isaac Watts.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts

 

See also here for the author’s biography: https://hymnary.org/person/Watts_Isaac

 

Read about the religious philosophy to which Watts adhered here : Nonconformist (Protestantism) - Wikipedia

 

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