How Firm a Foundation

In the two previous posts, I borrowed content from David Powlison's book, God's Grace in Your Suffering. The entire book is organized around the hymn, "How Firm a Foundation." I have sung that hymn probably a hundred times over the years, but I never really listed to the words. Take a moment and mediate on these lyrics. I added a few notes, but you can skip them if you find them distracting. It is a beautiful hymn about how God meets us in our suffering:

How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he has said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

[What more can he say to us that the scriptures already offer? Everything has been given to us to find comfort in him.]

"Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed;
for I am your God, and will still give you aid;
I'll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

[God will give us strength in suffering, and not just any help: Help from a righteous and all-powerful hand, a hand that cannot and will not be moved away from us.]

"When through the deep waters I call you to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
for I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
and sanctify to you your deepest distress.

[God brings us to troubles so that by wading through them, he can bless us and sanctify us, so that we may become more like his son. Those troubles will be just enough to accomplish his purposes, but will never be too much.]

"When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie,
my grace, all-sufficient, shall be your supply;
the flame shall not hurt you; I only design
your dross to consume and your gold to refine.

[He will be sufficient in those times of trouble. His only purpose is to purify us. Note that in this stanza, we are already gold; we already have tremendous value. The fire helps to purify us into finer gold.]

"E'en down to old age all my people shall prove
my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
and when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne.

[Throughout our lives, into old age, God will be there to comfort us. He will treat us as gentle as babies, as gentle as lambs.]

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake."

[God will never, ever leave us. Satan will pursue us, but against God, he is doomed to failure. God will not give us up to our enemies...ever.]