How Firm A Foundation

There are weeks when it feels as though everything is falling apart. Weeks when it feels as if nothing can go right. Weeks when you just want to curl up and cry. This past week was one of those weeks. Several family members have had very serious medical issues pop up or worsen in the past month, and this week was the straw that broke the camel's back.

So here I am, half a continent away from my family as they're going through these things, feeling so very alone. I'm not. I am never alone, but I felt like I was this week. It got better this morning. God has blessed me in surrounding me with so many amazing, godly women who treat me as a son. One of them, one of the most amazing women I know, gave me the motherly hug I so desperately needed today. As I cried on her shoulder, I felt much of the tension that had made it so difficult to sleep this week fade away.

These weeks aren't especially common, but they're not exactly rare, either. So often I feel alone, but I know that I'm not. This hymn, How Firm a Foundation, was the favorite hymn of one of my heroes, Robert E. Lee, a godly man who understood duty, privilege, and family. It reminds me of the sufficiency of God's grace, the limitlessness of his love for me, and the infiniteness of his power. Each of the verses is so meaningful, but the last verse sums it all up: Though  all hell should endeavor to shake us, we who have trusted in Christ for our rest will not be forsaken. No matter the foes that come against us, we will not be deserted. He is with us, in every trial, in every sorrow, and in every struggle. This is the God whom we serve, and even our service is only by His grace. How firm a foundation He has laid for us.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

(Public Domain)

The hymn was first published in 1787 by John Rippon (it's unclear when it was written, and the actual identity of the author is unknown, having been attributed to various authors), and it is sung to a tune written in 1832 by Joseph Funk of Singers Glen, Virginia (a Mennonite settlement that is known as the birthplace of sacred music in the South).