Upheld by His righteous omnipotent hand

I was reading the testimony of a cancer survivor and liked this quote from him:

"Life is like a sailboat. You can only focus on the things you have control over, like your boat, sails and rudder. You have to let go of the things you don't have control over, like the water, wind and current. What I had the control over was the decision to fight for my life."

Today at the Bible conference we sang a hymn that has become a top favorite of mine for its lyrics. What most aren’t aware of are these older lyrics to this song dating back to 1787--one in which no one really knows who its author is:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health,
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand shall thy faith ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, 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.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow,
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply,
The flame shall not hurt thee: I only design,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age, all my people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love,
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
As lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus Hath leaned for repose,
I will not - I will not Desert to its foes,
That soul, though all hell Should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no, never, No, never forsake!

*****

From one website: How Firm a Foundation first reached the public when John Rippon – an influential English minister who pastored Carter Lane Baptist Church in London – published A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors in 1787. This collection featured a variety of hymns that Rippon found to be especially powerful, which turned out to be true as the collection quickly rose in popularity. In fact, the collection was so popular that eleven different editions were released between the time of original release and Rippon’s death in 1836. One such edition made its way to America, and specifically to Baptist Churches in Philadelphia. As popular as the collection was in England, it was perhaps more-so in America, and even became known as the "unofficial hymnbook for Baptist Churches."

*****

From writer Luke Powell:

“Well, there's a mystery behind the song because the name of the writer has never really been found. It was 1787 when a Baptist minister, Doctor John Rippon in London, published a book of hymns, including this great song, and where the author's name normally goes, was just an initial K, and nobody can say for sure who this mysterious K is.

"There are some theories, and the first is that it was probably a man named Robert Keen, who was the musician at Doctor Rippon's church in those days. Apparently, Mr. Keen was later dismissed from this church on a charge of drunkenness, believe it or not, but it seems as if he may have been the author, and in fact later hymnals actually cite him as the author. If you see some hymnals in the 1800s, they have got Robert Keen as the author.

"As I've been going through the Canaan Melodies hymnal and recording it, I found the song. It was number 24, I think, and the author was cited as George Keith, and I didn't think much of it. When I released the song, I put George Keith as the author.

"But looking it up this week, I wondered if he was the mysterious K. It seems as if this theory about Keith being the author only came up later. In fact, it was a man named Daniel Sedgwick who owned some bookshops in London and was quite a hymn person himself.

"He liked to compile hymnals, and it seems as if he helped Charles Spurgeon with the publication of his hymnals. This man said that George Keith was the author of this hymn, and it seemed as if Keith was a member of Doctor Rippon's church as well in the late 1700s, but research shows that he was part of a group that split and didn't like Rippon, so they left the church. This makes it unlikely that he was part of the publication of this hymnal.

"There are other theories. One theory is that a man named Kirkham, who was a contemporary of the Wesleys in the 1700s, wrote it. But the truth is, nobody can say for sure. But somebody obviously sat down and put these words together.

"It's a beautiful piece of writing. It's very unusual in that it takes Scripture and paraphrases it, but so slightly that you can tell that it's Scripture. You can recognize a lot of the words, but it paraphrases it so that it seems as if God is the one speaking. This is quite a comforting thing to hear and to sing. So thank you to K, whoever you were. We're just blessed to have these words. Let me take you through the words that this mysterious man wrote.”