The LORD God Is My Light and My Salvation

The LORD God is my light and my salvation, Whom shall I fear?

Versifier: Marie J. Post (1980)
Tune: GENEVAN 27
Published in 1 hymnal

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Audio files: MIDI
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Versifier: Marie J. Post

Marie (Tuinstra) Post (b. Jenison, MI, 1919; d. Grand Rapids, MI, 1990) While attending Dutch church services as a child, Post was first introduced to the Genevan psalms, which influenced her later writings. She attended Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she studied with Henry Zylstra. From 1940 to 1942 she taught at the Muskegon Christian Junior High School. For over thirty years Post wrote poetry for the Grand Rapids Press and various church periodicals. She gave many readings of her poetry in churches and schools and has been published in a number of journals and poetry anthologies. Two important collections of her poems are I Never Visited an Artist Before (1977) and the posthumous Sandals, Sails, and Saints (1993). A member… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: The LORD God is my light and my salvation, Whom shall I fear?
Title: The LORD God Is My Light and My Salvation
Versifier: Marie J. Post (1980)
Meter: 11.10.11.10.10.10.10.10
Language: English
Copyright: Text and harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Notes

A prayer for deliverance from treacherous enemies who attack with the deadly weapons of slander and "false witness.”

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-6
st. 3 = vv. 7-9
st. 4 = vv. 10-14

The psalmist is surrounded by enemies who seek to destroy him. But their attacks are not brutal and open; their weapons are the poisoned arrows of slander and "false witness." Such weapons are no less deadly than missiles of bronze and iron and are more convenient for secret in-house treachery. Notice a hint that the attacks come from the psalmist's inner circle of associates–"though my father and mother forsake me" (v. 10). In the face of such circumstances, the psalmist offers a confession of trust in God that is unexcelled in the Psalms. In stanza 1, the psalmist's unwavering confidence in God's protective care removes all fear. Stanza 2 testifies that the LORD (and God's temple) is a sure strong¬hold for shelter and safety; stanza 3 is a prayer requesting God's help in this time of desperation and asking that God will not abandon us to false witnesses. That prayer moves to a confession that God will surely bring deliverance, followed by a self-exhortation that calls us to remain firm in that confession (st. 4). Marie J. Post (PHH 5) versified this psalm in 1980 for the Psalter Hymnal. See 164 for another setting of Psalm 27.

Liturgical Use:
Times of persecution or other situations in which the Christian community wishes to express confidence in the Lord.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

GENEVAN 27

First published in the 1551 Genevan Psalter, GENEVAN 27 has been generally attributed to Louis Bourgeois (PHH 3), editor of that psalter. Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) com¬posed the harmonization in 1986 for the Psalter Hymnal. Though one of the longer and more difficult Genevan tunes, 27 is accessible b…

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Media

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #27
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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #27

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