This “MusicMinister” song site pairs “Bible songs” with “Bible lessons” – a practice that has been done for centuries. Isaac Watts, an English pastor who has been called “the greatest name among hymn-writers” wrote a number of hymns to accompany scripture-based sermons he gave. Please give our song – a paraphrase of Psalm 23 done by Watts – a sing-along spin, then come back and we’ll talk about Watt’s wonderful ability to help people understand scripture using songs with his sermons.
Isaac Watts: English hymnwriter and theologian (1674–1748)
“If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.”
[Jeremiah 20:9 BSB]
From the time he could read, Isaac Watts loved poetry and displayed a talent for making clever rhymes, mingled with wit and even some rebellion, all which came into play throughout his 74-years. When he was just seven, his mother, already well aware there was something special about him, asked him to write a poem. Here it is:
“I am a vile polluted lump of earth,
So I’ve continued ever since my birth;
Although Jehovah, grace doth daily give me,
As sure this monster Satan will deceive me,
Come, therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me.
Wash me in Thy blood, O Christ,
And grace divine impart,
Then search and try the corners of my heart,
That I in all things may be fit to do,
Service to Thee, and sing Thy praise too.”
(Did you notice the lines begin with letters of his name — “Isaac Watts”?)
There’s a story that young Isaac giggled, interrupting his father in the middle of a prayer — because Isaac saw a mouse trying to climb a rope. When scolded, Isaac said,
“A little mouse for want of stairs,
ran up a rope to say its prayers.”
When further chided for the appearance of disrespect in that poetic reply, Isaac added,
“O father, father, pity take;
And I will no more verses make.”
(Does this remind anyone of Fezzik, the giant, from “The Princess Bride”?
“NO MORE RHYMES … I MEAN IT !!!
… “Anybody want a peanut?” ☺)
In his day, English churches favored hymns that were slow and heavy, somber and joyless. To this, Isaac wrote, “The singing of God’s praise is the part of worship most closely related to heaven; but its performance among us is the worst on earth.” He criticized this kind of worship, and so his father suggested he do something about it.
And so he did. For the next two years, every week he wrote and brought a new hymn to church. People liked his hymns, and so his name spread through England. Some from the traditional Church of England were critical of his approach, but the “Independent Church” which Watts attended loved his bright new hymns and cheered him on. His name and reputation spread.
Paraphrasing Psalms
“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”
[Nehemiah 8:8]
Martin Luther lived about two hundred years before Isaac Watts. In Luther’s time, Bibles were in Latin, which meant they were accessible only to scholars and not to “common folk”. Luther strongly felt it was important that Scripture be available in a form that all people could understand. To this end, by age 34, he was already translating parts of the Bible – including the Psalms – into German.
Two hundred years later, Isaac Watts shared that same value and worked to bring the Bible to people in a way they could understand. But Watts did not translate scripture from another language as Luther did. Watts, a skilled teacher and pastor with in-depth spiritual perception and awareness, employed his remarkable skill at writing and rhyming and “translated” – actually “paraphrased” – many sections of scripture from both the Old and New Testaments into hymn lyrics that could be sung.
It is interesting that of all the hymnals and songs Isaac Watts produced, he considered his most important work to be one called “The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament”. In it he paraphrased 138 of the Bible’s 150 Psalms, turning them into songs that helped Christians learn lessons from the Psalms, while using the language of his day.
Success?
“Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all things.”
[2 Timothy 2:7]
“We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
[1 Corinthians 2:12]
How could a person hope to paraphrase any part of God’s Word and not corrupt the understanding the Lord meant us to get? While much skill, humility, heart and love will probably help, one thing clearly stands out — if the Lord is in it, it can be done.
Was the Lord “in it” with Isaac Watts? How has his work stood the test of time? I read that the respected author, pastor and spiritual mentor A.W. Tozer said that most people’s understanding of scriptural doctrine could be improved if they would simply read Watt’s paraphrases of the Psalms. That is high praise, coming from Tozer. And, as another tribute recognizing the Lord’s hand in Watt’s work — Westminster Abby has a memorial sculpture in Watt’s honor showing him at a desk writing. It shows an angel standing at Watt’s side assisting him by guiding his writing hand. What a picture!
Some songs from Watts’ large work paraphrasing Psalms are still sung today, including “Joy to the World”, based on Psalm 98 (intended by Watts for daily worship, not specifically as a Christmas carol), “Our God our Help in Ages Past” from Psalm 90 and, of course, his paraphrase from Psalm 23, “My Shepherd You Supply My Need”.
God bless you lots
-Dale R.
LYRICS: My Shepherd You Supply My Need
Author: Isaac Watts (1719)
Tune: “Resignation” anonymous (published by 1828)
1. My Shepherd, you supply my need,
most holy is your name.
In pastures fresh you make me feed,
beside the living stream.
You bring my wand’ring spirit back,
When I forsake your ways.
You lead me, for your mercy’s sake,
in paths of truth and grace.
2. When through the shades of death I walk,
your presence is my stay.
One word of your supporting breath
drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes,
does still my table spread.
My cup with blessings overflows,
your oil anoints my head.
3. Your sure provisions, gracious God,
attend me all my days.
Oh, may your house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
Here would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home.
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Thank-you – “My Cup Runneth Over”
Carol, thanks much! No “is the glass half full or half empty” when it is running over. That’s the Lord and His own for you! God bless you lots — Dale R.