Open Your Hymnal: Devotions That Harmonize Scripture with Song

By Denise K Loock

Celebrating God's worth is the essence of worship. Songs that glorify God place him in his proper place as the focal point of the universe. And they place us in our proper place, kneeling at his feet in adoration.

Open Your Hymnal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dig Deeper Devotions
• Release date: Sep 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988689911

Book preview

PART I

THE SHIELD OF PRAISE

But you, O lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3 ¹

Snug under the covers, I’m unwilling to face the world.

Heartbreak or hardship may have triggered my cocoon instinct. On other days, illness or indiscretion may be factors.

Sometimes the causes are less weighty. I may pull the sheet tighter around me because of an upcoming doctor’s appointment. My day’s schedule may include a phone call I don’t want to make or a meeting I don’t want to attend.

But decades of teaching and mothering and other responsibilities motivate me to toss off the covers and swing my feet onto the floor. Help, Lord, I whisper as I shuffle to the bathroom.

In the kitchen I feed the cat and brew the coffee, then head for my recliner. An orange sliver of sun peeks over the mountains outside the window next to my chair. The Holy Spirit nudges me. Let’s get ready for the day.

Pulling my Bible and journal from the basket beside my recliner, I open to the day’s passage. Speak, Lord, I’m listening. Although my body is weary and my will reluctant, the Word of God and the voice of God awaken my spirit.

Outside, the sun has become a glittering disc of molten yellow, gilding the pastel pink and blue clouds with a golden edge. The words of a familiar hymn flit into my mind:

When morning gilds the sky,

My heart awaking cries:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Alike at work and prayer

To Jesus I repair:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

The morning sky infuses my day with hope. Its beauty varies, but its promise is unchanging: God is faithful. Always. No matter how unwilling I am to start the day, he’s eager to pour out his mercy and grace on me. Again. And again.

No one knows who wrote the lyrics of May Jesus Christ Be Praised. Edward Caswall, a Roman Catholic priest, translated the hymn from German to English around 1854.

The lyricist mentions several reasons people like you and me—and maybe him—don’t want to get out of bed some mornings: sleeplessness, evil thoughts, sadness, disappointment. But for each situation, he uses the same remedy—May Jesus Christ be praised:

When sleep her balm denies,

My silent spirit sighs:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

When evil thoughts molest,

with this I shield my breast:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?

A solace here I find:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Or fades my earthly bliss?

My comfort still is this:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

King David had reason to stay in bed after his son Absalom betrayed him and usurped his throne. In Psalm 3, David writes, How many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him’ (vv. 1–2).

Yet the brokenhearted king did not yield to despair. Instead he said, I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me (vv. 4–5).

The Lord sustains me too. His faithfulness, his love, his provision. When I shift my gaze from circumstances to his character, I can face whatever a day brings. I breathe in his goodness and breathe out praise. As David did. As the writer of May Jesus Christ Be Praised did.

Battling the urge to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed? Grab the shield of praise instead. Start your day with may Jesus Christ be praised.

REST AND REFLECT

Use phrases from Psalm 3 to fuel your praise today. Many are saying … But you, Lord, … I call out to the Lord … and I will not fear …

MAY JESUS CHRIST BE PRAISED

ENGLISH TRANSLATOR: EDWARD CASWELL, 1854

When morning gilds the skies,

My heart awaking cries:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Alike at work and prayer 

To Jesus I repair:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

When sleep her balm denies,

My silent spirit sighs:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

When evil thoughts molest,

With this I shield my breast:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?

A solace here I find:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Or fades my earthly bliss?

My comfort still is this:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

In heav’n’s eternal bliss

The loveliest strain is this:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

The pow’rs of darkness fear,

When this sweet chant they hear:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Let earth’s wide circle round

In joyful notes resound:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Let air and sea and sky,

From depth to height, reply:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

When you begin the day,

O, never fail to say;

May Jesus Christ be praised!

And at your work rejoice

To sing with heart and voice,

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this at meals your grace,

In every time and place;

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, when day is past,

Of all your thoughts the last,

May Jesus Christ be praised!

My tongue shall never tire

Of chanting with the choir,

May Jesus Christ be praised!

This song of sacred joy,

It never seems to cloy,

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, while life is mine,

My canticle divine:

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Be this th’eternal song,

Through all the ages on:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

THE GUILT FACTOR

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the lord." And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5

Creeping along the shadowed walls of my mind, a past sin hissed, Who do you think you are? Don’t you remember what you’ve done? I closed my eyes for a moment and reminded myself, I am a child of God, forgiven and redeemed, no longer chained to you. And as quickly as my past had come, it scurried out of my consciousness at the Truth I had brandished in its face.

Satan often uses shame and regret to immobilize us. At other times, we bind ourselves by allowing past failures to prevent us from moving forward in our faith and service. But to doubt the freedom from our past that Jesus’s death and resurrection provide is to discredit God’s character. It cheapens the grace he lavishes on us, snubs the fellowship he offers to us, and rejects the victory over sin he won.

Paul assured the Ephesians that in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (1:7). In accordance with means consistent with. God’s grace is available to us in unlimited amounts, which means his forgiveness is endless too.

God also promises, in Jeremiah 31:34 and again in Hebrews 8:12, I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Hallelujah! If God chooses to forget our sins, the sins that sent his Son to an excruciating death on a cross, why do we dwell on them? Why do we dredge them up from the depths of the sea where he cast them? (Micah 7:19).

David was an adulterer and a murderer. He could have allowed those sins to silence his witness and hamper his service to the God he loved. But he didn’t. He confessed his sin: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight (Psalm 51:4). He asked for forgiveness: Cleanse me … and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow (51:7). David followed the same pattern in Psalm 32. He acknowledged his sin, then embraced the forgiveness God offered: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered (32:1).

Our sins are covered too—with the precious blood of Jesus.

Like David, we can move beyond regret, beyond shame. We can live like we’re forgiven—in gratitude, in humility, and in devotion to the One who forgave us.

Horatius Bonar, whom some call the prince of Scottish hymn-writers, was a nineteenth-century pastor and author. In I Lay My Sins on Jesus he gave us the prescription for peace with our past:

I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God;

He bears them all, and frees us from the accursèd load;

I bring my guilt to Jesus, to wash my crimson stains

White in his blood most precious, till not a stain remains.

I lay my wants on Jesus; all fullness dwells in him;

He heals all my diseases, he doth my soul redeem:

I lay my griefs on Jesus, my burdens and my cares;

He from them all releases, he all my sorrows shares.

In God’s Way of Peace, Bonar wrote, Satisfaction with yourself, even if you could get it, would do nothing for you. Satisfaction with Christ would do everything; for Christ is all. ¹

Does your past haunt you? Do you want to be freed from its power? Then bring your sins and failures to Jesus and leave them in his nail-pierced hands. Claim the forgiveness he has given you; rest in the completeness of your redemption. 

And don’t look back.

REST AND REFLECT

Many Bible scholars believe David wrote four psalms after his sin with Bathsheba. If you read them in the following sequence, you can trace his journey from a chasm of guilt to a pinnacle of joy: Psalms 38, 6, 51, and 32.

I LAY MY SINS ON JESUS

HORATIO BONAR, 1843

I lay my sins on Jesus,

The spotless Lamb of God;

He bears them all, and frees us

From the accursed load;

I bring my guilt to Jesus,

To wash my crimson stains

White in his blood most precious,

Till not a spot remains.

I lay my wants on Jesus;

All fullness dwells in Him;

He heals all my diseases,

He doth my soul redeem;

I lay my griefs on Jesus,

My burdens and my cares;

He from them all releases,

He all my sorrows shares.

I rest my soul on Jesus,

This weary soul of mine;

His right hand me embraces,

I on his breast recline.

I love the Name of Jesus,

Immanuel, Christ, the Lord;

Like fragrance on the breezes

His Name abroad is poured.

I long to be like Jesus,

Meek, loving, lowly, mild;

I long to be like Jesus,

The Father’s holy Child;

I long to be with Jesus

Amid the heav’nly throng,

To sing with saints his praises,

To learn the angels’ song.

MY HEART WILL NOT BE SILENT

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the lord. Then some of the Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

2 Chronicles 20:18–19

Eat your vegetables. How many times have you been told—or told someone else—veggies are good for your body? Rich in antioxidants and vitamins, low in carbs and calories, the nutrients in vegetables help us maintain good physical health.

The spiritual equivalent of eat your veggies is sing. Rich in gratitude and low in griping, singing reduces stress and releases endorphins that improve mental and emotional health.

God knows that.

Some form of the verb sing and the noun song appear over two hundred times in the Bible. Sing debuts in Exodus 15:1 when Moses and the Israelites sang to the lord for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. That’s easy to understand, of course. Who wouldn’t be singing about such an astounding display of God’s power and sovereignty? As the Red Sea’s waters swallowed Pharaoh’s army, I’m sure what an awesome God, praise God, and hallelujah reverberated across the Sinai peninsula. Dancing and prancing. Fist pumping. Arm waving.

But not all the songfests in the Bible are victory parties. In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat instructed the Levites, Kohathites, and Korahites to sing praises to the Lord before the army went out to fight the vastly superior forces of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. In this case, the singing was a military tactic. The king wanted to inspire his troops—fortify their courage and bolster their confidence in God. And so the worship leaders marched at the head of the army, singing Give thanks to the lord, for his love endures forever (20:21).

In Psalm 13, David battles demons of despair. He laments, How long, O lord? Will you forget me forever? (v. 1). But a few verses later he says, I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the lord’s praise, for he has been good to me. He sings of God’s goodness even though he says, I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart (v. 2). Similarly, in Psalm 27 David writes, I will sing and make music to the lord even though the wicked advance against me to devour me and false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations (vv. 6, 2, 12). Suffering didn’t silence David’s song.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther wrote that music so often refreshed me and delivered me from dire plagues—literal plagues of sickness and spiritual plagues brought on by the vicious attacks of those