How Firm a Foundation
A powerful classic hymn about God’s presence with us through storms and fires. Who is the mysterious “K” who wrote this? And what makes this song unusual in the way it uses Scripture? Find out on this episode, and may this song bring you great encouragement today.
Let's do another Friday Classic Hymn. Today we're going to a Baptist favourite. You know, I'm a Nazarene and formerly Methodist, but my grandparents were staunch Baptists at the Benoni Baptist Church here in Gauteng. My grandma always said to me that I would make a good Baptist minister, but of course I ended up somewhere else.
This song was apparently a favourite in the Baptist church, although I only got to know it last year when I recorded it for the Canaan Melodies project that I'm doing. This is an old Nazarene hymnal that I'm recording, published in 1914, and I'm just redoing all the songs so that we can preserve them in a new way.
I found the song and really loved it. I thought that I would look at it today because it seems to be quite popular, and this has become a favourite of mine in terms of its value as a song of encouragement and comfort. Maybe you'll say the same after you look at these words. Share your comments below, please, about the song. Share your thoughts about it, but also your experience of the song. Have you seen it before? What are your memories of the song? I'd love to know. Share that all below and let me tell you the history behind it.
The Story Behind "How Firm a Foundation"
Well, there's a mystery behind the song because the name of the writer has never really been found. It was 1787 when a Baptist minister, Doctor John Rippon in London, published a book of hymns, including this great song, and where the author's name normally goes, was just an initial K, and nobody can say for sure who this mysterious K is.
There are some theories, and the first is that it was probably a man named Robert Keen, who was the musician at Doctor Rippon's church in those days. Apparently, Mr Keen was later dismissed from this church on a charge of drunkenness, believe it or not, but it seems as if he may have been the author, and in fact later hymnals actually cite him as the author. If you see some hymnals in the 1800s, they have got Robert Keen as the author.
As I've been going through the Canaan Melodies hymnal and recording it, I found the song. It was number 24, I think, and the author was cited as George Keith, and I didn't think much of it. When I released the song, I put George Keith as the author.
But looking it up this week, I wondered if he was the mysterious K. It seems as if this theory about Keith being the author only came up later. In fact, it was a man named Daniel Sedgwick who owned some bookshops in London and was quite a hymn person himself. He liked to compile hymnals, and it seems as if he helped Charles Spurgeon with the publication of his hymnals. This man said that George Keith was the author of this hymn, and it seemed as if Keith was a member of Doctor Rippon's church as well in the late 1700s, but research shows that he was part of a group that split and didn't like Rippon, so they left the church. This makes it unlikely that he was part of the publication of this hymnal.
There are other theories. One theory is that a man named Kirkham, who was a contemporary of the Wesleys in the 1700s, wrote it. But the truth is, nobody can say for sure. But somebody obviously sat down and put these words together. It's a beautiful piece of writing. It's very unusual in that it takes Scripture and paraphrases it, but so slightly that you can tell that it's Scripture. You can recognise a lot of the words, but it paraphrases it so that it seems as if God is the one speaking. This is quite a comforting thing to hear and to sing. So thank you to K, whoever you were. We're just blessed to have these words. Let me take you through the words that this mysterious man wrote.
What Do the Lyrics of "How Firm a Foundation" Mean?
There are six verses, although a lot of churches don't sing them all. But I'll take you through them all.
Verse 1
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
Of course, that's the title of the hymn. God's Word is the foundation, and it's a sure and firm foundation for us. That's a great start to the song saying, in God's Word we have a firm foundation on which we stand as the saints of God.
What more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
In other words, the Word of God is sufficient for us. God doesn't need to say any more to us than what's in the Word. Here we have a great high view of Scripture in this hymn. If you want to hear from God, if you want to hear what He has said, read His Word and you will find all the revelation and inspiration you need for your faith.
Verse 2
Verse two brings about what I said just now, this scriptural content rephrased as if it's from God. Although this first one is very much like the verse in Isaiah 41.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will still give thee aid.
That comes directly out of Isaiah 41:10. God says those words in the first half of that line. But then you hear God saying, I will give you aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.
This all comes from that same verse, Isaiah 41:10, where God is telling Israel His nation, who's in exile at the time, don't be afraid. I am with you. I will strengthen you, and I will help you, and I will uphold you by My righteous right hand. The author of the hymn puts in My gracious, omnipotent hand, which gives it a little bit more substance, whereas the text in the Bible just says, My righteous right hand, but you get the point.
When you're going through difficult times, these words stand for you and I as well as believers. God says to us, fear not if you're in exile, if you are struggling, if you are in a difficult place, I am with you. Don't be dismayed. I am there to help you and hold you, uphold you by My righteous right hand.
Perhaps today you need to remember this. Maybe you are going through a struggle today and you need to hear these words from God saying, fear not. Don't be dismayed. I am with you. I'll uphold you by My powerful hand and get you through as I walk with you. God does strengthen us as we walk with Him. That's why I love this hymn. It reminds me of this.
Verse 3
The next verse is also from Isaiah, but Isaiah 43.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow.
Isaiah 43 says something similar about when you pass through the waters, I'll be with you, and the rivers won't overwhelm you. It's a close paraphrase, but it just rhymes a little bit more easily.
This is a good thing for us to hold on to. If you're going through deep waters, God is saying to you, you're not going to be overcome by them. They won't overflow and overwhelm you, but I'll be with you as you go through the deep waters.
I find it interesting that He says here, I call you to go through them. Sometimes I think God calls us to go through difficulties because it's in those difficulties, it's in those storms and those deep waters that we learn and we mature and we grow. If you're going through deep waters, God is with you.
For I will be with thee thy trials to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
The trials will be blessed because they will grow you. They will sanctify you. That's making you holy, making you pure, making you righteous before God through Christ, and through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. The distress that you go through will actually sanctify you. What a beautiful thing. It does for me as I go through difficulties in life. I hope these words are encouraging you too.
Verse 4
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The metaphor's changed again, this time fiery trials. Whether it's deep waters or rivers or fiery trials, God is saying, My grace will be your supply. This comes out of 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul says that he heard Jesus say to him, My grace is sufficient for you. That word supply reminds me of Paul saying, My God shall supply all your needs, Philippians 4:19.
If you're going through a fiery trial, your pathways are going down some sort of a fiery path, God's grace is sufficient. He will supply what you need to get through. What great news today.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The flames that you're going through are not going to hurt you if you are having your faith in Christ, but these flames will consume your dross. In other words, I suppose your sin will be consumed. The purpose of your trials is to consume those parts of you that shouldn't be there and burn them away, I suppose as you suffer for Christ, and to refine you as gold in the fire.
By the way, again, there's a throwback to Isaiah 43:2, when He said, when you walk through the fires, you will not be burnt. Take this, sing the song. Hold on to these thoughts that these flames I'm feeling are refining me as gold is refined by fire and giving me the opportunity to find victory over my sin by burning it away. This is deep stuff.
Verse 5
Even down to old age, all My people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love.
I love this. Even all the way to the end, this is not just a religion for young people, it's for old people as well who are away in their old age. Their lives prove God's love. Can you think of somebody whose life proves God's love even as they live in their old age? Are you somebody who perhaps needs to hear this and say, my life can be a way to prove God's love? My life is a picture of God's faithfulness.
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
No matter how old you are, and no matter how grey your hair may be, or how much you may have lost your hair, you're still just like a precious lamb held by God, a precious child held by God. That's beautiful.
Maybe that's what you're taking from this today is that no matter how old or young you are, you're a lamb to God, a precious child to Him. He will hold you in His bosom. We don't use that word anymore. We would say He'd hold you in His arms, close to His chest, to hold you tight and give you that comfort.
Verse 6
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes.
Of course Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. If you are leaning on Him in faith, you will not be deserted. David found the same thing when he wrote the Psalms. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. If you're leaning on God as your repose, as your rest, as your faith, then you will never be forsaken. Oh, thank You, Lord, for never forsaking us.
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!
Hell may come against you to try to shake you and shake your faith, and Jesus says, I'll never forsake you. I will never, never, never forsake you. Romans 8:38-39 talks about how nothing can separate us from the love of God. All hell can come against us.
Remember how Jesus spoke about the gates of hell trying to overcome, but they won't overcome. The church will be victorious in Christ. You and I, children of God, are held safe by Him, and we are the victorious ones through our faith.
Conclusion
You know, I learned the song when I did this Canaan Melodies project, and I just fell in love with these words. They gave me such comfort.
I wonder which line has really meant something to you? If you share that below, I'd really appreciate that.
As we sing it, there are different tunes for this one, but the one that I recorded for my project is actually a very familiar tune. You'll hear it. It's not normally sung to this anymore. In fact, this tune is very famous for a different song, but to me, doing it like this lets me really take in the words.
Before I close, I just want to say thank you. You guys support my ministry. There are those of you who support me on Patreon, and I want to thank you - your extra devotions and your extra downloads of all the stuff that I do is always there. Then many of you just pop me a donation on PayPal. If you've been blessed by a video, I'm so grateful. I feel so humbled that you would do that. Thank you. You really help me to take the time to do this and get other people on board to help with the editing, so I can go and do the pastoral work I've got to do the rest of the week.
So thank you very much. May this song comfort you as it has comforted me.
References
McLelland, J. 1994. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. Ambassador Productions Ltd: Belfast
Osbeck, K.W. 1985. 101 Hymn Stories. Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids
