Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty
By: Joachim Neander
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near;
Join me in glad adoration!
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yes, so gently sustaineth!
Hast Thou not seen how all thy longings have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the amen sound from His people again:
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper Thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with his love He befriend thee.
Joachin Neander, born in 1650, wrote this hymn. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather had all been preachers, but as a student, Joachin was rebellious and wild. At age 20, he joined a group of students who descended on St. Martin's Church to ridicule the worshipers. But the sermon that Rev. Theodore Under-Eyck preached convicted him and led to his conversion. A few years later, he became the assistant pastor at that church.
Joachim would often take long walks (he called them worship walks) near his home in Hochdal, Germany. He composed hymns as he strolled, singing them to the Lord. He was the first hymnwriter from the Calvinist branch of Protestantism. When he was 30 years old, he wrote this hymn while battling tuberculosis; he died from it that year.
Have a wonderful, good and godly week!
1 Chronicles 16:25
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praise: he also is to be feared above all gods.
Have a wonderful, good and godly week!
1 Chronicles 16:25
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praise: he also is to be feared above all gods.
Thanks for this neat post, Ashley! How neat to learn the story of the man behind this hymn! What an interesting testimony! The timing of this is neat as my sisters and I are creating + practicing an arrangement of this hymn to play at our church :)
ReplyDeleteAshley, loved this post. Very interesting and I love things like this. Happy New Year. Hugs and blessings, Cindy
ReplyDeleteAh ... this is an old favorite from my childhood years. It still comes to me at the oddest times and also the most needed times when praise is the absolute best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteGood to meet you this week, Ashley!
Such a beautiful picture that you shared along with this glorious hymn, I did not know the history behind it, but how wonderful to know that Joachin's heart was right with his Lord after a rebellious time, and that he wrote this beautiful hymn. Do love your sharing of the background history of these beautiful hymns! Hugs to you today :)
ReplyDelete