Hymn Story: O God, Our Help In Ages Past

Psalm 90

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

3 You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.

 

7 For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
8 You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
10 The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labour and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 

13 Return, O Lord!
How long?
And have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

 

 

Isaac Watts wrote "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" as a paraphrase of Psalm 90. His desire to write the hymn was born, in part, out of his dissatisfaction with the church music of his day. At 20 years of age, he complained that the metrical psalms they had to sing at Above Bar Chapel in Southampton were grim and ponderous. But to sing anything other than the actual words of Scripture was said to insult God.

Watts’ father heard Isaac’s complaining and challenged him to "write something better for us to sing." In 1719, he published an important hymnal titled The Psalms of David in the Language of the New Testament. In it he paraphrased the entire Psalter with the exception of twelve Psalms he felt were unsuited for usage.

At this time in England, religious freedom was severely limited and Watts’ father was jailed twice for his religious views. Isaac himself was considered a radical churchman, since he wrote many "hymns of human composure” songs that did not directly quote Bible passages.

In such uncertain times, Watts looked to Psalm 90 for comfort and wrote more than a paraphrase of its heartening words. His hymn actually gave a grand commentary on the subject of time and how God stands above human time.

Originally, "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" contained nine verses. Today most hymnals use only verses 1, 2, 3, 5, and 9. In 1738, John Wesley changed the first line from "Our God" to "O God." Some feel that the change makes it easier to sing and also calls the vocative case which causes the singer to expect the "Thy" of the second stanza.

Listen to it here: O God, Our Help In Ages Past