I’m pretty sure the imagery of the hymn How Firm a Foundation primarily draws from Isaiah 40–48. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the second verse, which is a paraphrase of Isaiah 41:10. Since the hymn was written in 1787, perhaps the best way to see this parallel is to compare the second verse to the King James Version of Isaiah 41:10.
| How Firm a Foundation, Verse 2 | Isaiah 41:10, King James Version |
Fear not, I am with thee1, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand. | Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. |
The primary impression worshipers likely have from this hymn while singing verse 2 is that of God’s support of them. I think that this would leave them thinking of themselves as passive recipients of the support of God’s righteous right hand. However, the context of Isaiah adds an interesting layer to the idea of Yahweh’s support of his people. Compare (using King James for the sake of consistency) verses 10 and 13.
| Isaiah 41:10 | Isaiah 41:13 |
| Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. | For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. |
Note in particular the play on the term right hand. What How Firm a Foundation captures in its rendition of 41:10 is that the idea of right hand is the idea of power (e.g., the dominant right hand holds the scepter). When Yahweh says that he will hold his servant Israel’s right hand, the idea is that he provides them strength. Rather than being a purely passive idea, the idea of being upheld by Yahweh’s right hand shows that God supports the work of his servant.
This is actually cool for Christians for two different reasons. First, since this is a promise to Israel the seed of Abraham, and Christians are grafted into the promises of the blessings of Abraham, we understand that this promise has implications for us! As Christians we can know that God supports and empowers us to serve him, and knowing that, we know that there is no power that can resist God’s work in us in serving him. What an encouragement!
But second, the term servant in Isaiah, as seen in 41:8, is identified not just with Israel but with the ultimate Israelite, with Jesus the Messiah. That means we can understand this promise as fulfilled in Jesus’ work supported by God while on earth. That means if we ever doubt that God empowers our service to him today, we can remember that God already empowered the service of his Son on earth. We have a historical example guaranteeing our support today!
So anytime you sing How Firm a Foundation, you should remember upon ending verse 2 that God’s support of you in his right hand was demonstrated by his support of the ministry of our savior Jesus Christ and that it empowers you today to serve the Lord. Let this encourage you in your worship of him!
1 While multiple bands have modernized these lyrics, such productions are absolutely degenerate and must be purged from civilized society lest the communist troglodytes win.
Citizens & Sons 