embelsira

This is one of my favorite hymns. I went on a long run into the mountains on Christmas Day. As a light freezing rain storm soaked me, and yet I witnessed the majesty of His creation, this song came to mind (I have bolded my favorite lines):

The locale of my Christmas Day run

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near;
praise him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters you under his wings, you so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how all your longings have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who does prosper thy work and defend thee;surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
who, when the elements madly around you are raging,
biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
sheddeth his light, chaseth the horrors of night,
saints with his mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the amen sound from his people again,
gladly for all we adore him.

Words: Joachim Neander, 1680 | Translation: Catherine Winkworth, 1863

I especially want to touch on two of the bolded lines above.

"Praise to the Lord, who does prosper thy work and defend thee."

I was arrested by this idea. And I had never considered how the two acts work together until I started my own business. (I thought the author just wanted to add various love acts of God to the list – why not add, "and He loves us, and He protects us, and He provides for us, and He conquers evil." But I think there is a specific reason the author used these two together. More on that later.) I understand what it means for God to prosper our work–I'd just forgotten that He tells us that He will do it. Now, for all those not familiar with this promise, God does not say that He will make us rich and happy. Instead, this promise means that He will establish our footing, allow that the aim of the work that He stewards to us be achieved. Our English word "prosper" comes from the Latin prosperus, or "doing well." What a great promise?! We should have no fear in taking on tasks great and small. Now, take comfort that it is His aims that are achieved – but don't be confused when it is not your aims that are met. But know this: He will prosper your work.

Where does God promise "prosperity" – or, "doing well" a.k.a. good things, even sweet things?
Disclaimer, again: I don't mean wealth! I mean truly good things, firstly His fellowship and the circumcision of the heart that comes with that, the refining of the soul when he stand in the fire of His glory.


Deut 30:9 – in context, the Lord promises the Israelites that when they repent and obey Him, He will restore their wealth and lands; He is able to do this because the fury of His wrath is kindled with the Israelites confess their idolatry and turn as a nation back to their God.
Psalm 34:10, "Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."
Psalm 84:11, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
Hebrews 9, Christ is described as the high priest of the good things that have come, namely, permanently opening a meeting place for God and man through His blood on the cross.

And why does it matter that He defends us? Well, having to do with work, when He gives us good gifts, the people around us in life become quite jealous. They mumble about you behind your back. They yearn for your destruction. They rejoice when you weep. (How can they not understand that they, too, can have prosperous tailored to their needs from an Almighty and loving God?) Yet, He defends us. When making a covenant with Abraham, He says, "I am your shield, your very great reward." Why? What is defense. Defense includes at least two components: to protect (physically from danger, i.e. in a battle) and to argue in favor for (to provide a defense for, i.e. in a court case). Well, the Lord certainly protects us against the powers of darkness and principalities of evil that would seek to steal, kill, and destroy us. But He also defends us from Himself, the raging glory that would consume our sin-ravaged selves if we were to stand alone in His presence. And might I suggest that He also defends us from ourselves? Perhaps from the greedy eyes of our heart that would take the prosperity He grants us and turn to worship it instead of Him!

Well, enough for this post. I will have to pick up with "All that have life and breath" later. As a teaser, I am especially attached to the word, "inspiration," particularly the Latin prefix of in-, "into," and base of spir-, "to breathe."