JULY, 2021
(Click Title to Listen)
by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889). Music and additional words by Matt Merker and Bob Kauflin.
All Praise to Him
All praise to Him, the God of light
Who formed the mountains by His might,
All praise to Him Who names the stars
That sing His fame in skies afar.
All praise to Him Who reigns in love,
Who guides the galaxies above,
Yet bends to hear our every prayer
With sovereign pow’r and tender care.
All praise to Him Whose love is seen
In Christ the Son, the Servant King
Who left behind His glorious throne
To pay the ransom for His own.
All praise to Him Who humbly came
To bear our sorrow, sin, and shame,
Who lived to die, Who died to rise
The all-sufficient sacrifice.
All praise to Him Whose pow’r imparts
The love of God within our hearts,
The Spirit of all truth and peace,
The fount of joy and holiness.
To Father, Son, and Spirit, now,
Our souls we lift, our wills we bow,
To You, the triune God, we raise
With loving hearts our song of praise.
About the Hymnwriters
Horatius Bonar, Matt Merker, Bob Kauflin
July’s Hymn of the Month is by well-known contemporary writers, Matt Merker and Bob Kauflin, with deep roots in an older hymn, “All Praise to Him Who Built the Hills” by Horatius Bonar, a Scots pastor and prolific hymn-writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1808.
The Dictionary of Hymnology describes Bonar’s poems and hymns as being distinguished by a “tone of pensive reflection.”
"But," the writer goes on to say, “ . . . they are more than the record of emotion: [they also display Bonar’s] intellectual and personal grasp of Divine truth. In particular, these truths are: the gift of a Substitute, our Blessed Saviour; Divine grace, righteous, yet free in offer; the duty of immediate reliance upon the privilege of immediate assurance through that grace; communion with God, especially in the Lord's Supper, respecting which he insists on the privilege of cherishing the highest conceptions which Scripture warrants; and finally, the Second Advent of our Lord.”
These themes are richly interwoven and articulated in our hymn of the month, “All Praise to Him.”
Dr. Bonar served the Lord through preaching and writing until his death in 1889.
Bonar’s original lyrics were adapted and set to new music by Matt Merker and Bob Kauflin for Sovereign Grace Music in 2017.
Bob Kauflin serves as the Director of Sovereign Grace Music. Through conferences, seminars, and his blog, Worship Matters, he seeks to equip pastors, musicians, and songwriters in the theology and practice of congregational worship. He also oversees the production of Sovereign Grace Music albums. He currently has the joy of being a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. Bob and his wife, Julie, were married in 1976. They are blessed with six children and an ever growing number of grandchildren.
Matt
Merker (MDiv, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is director of creative
resources and training for Getty Music and has contributed to several modern
hymns, including "He Will Hold Me Fast." Matt and his wife, Erica, live
with their two children in Nashville, Tennessee, where they are members of
Edgefield Church.
We are commanded to, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." (Colossians 3:16). Accordingly, we incorporate hymns into our regular Sunday morning worship at Pacific Hope Church. We firmly believe in equipping God's people with the knowledge of His Word through sound teaching in our classes, Bible studies, and even in our Sunday morning worship. Our worship will always be with the purpose of exalting the Lord to His proper place; it is never man-centered or seeking to create an emotional experience.
