Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#71

71. In You, O LORD, I Put My Trust

Text Information

• First Line: In you, O LORD, I put my trust
• Title: In You, O LORD, I Put My Trust
• Versifier: Clarence P. Walhout (1985)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 71
• Topic: Brevity & Frailty of Life; Laments; New Year - Old Year; Suffering of Christ
• Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications
• CCLI Number: 5655500

Tune Information

• Name: JUDSON (Wischmeier)
• Composer: Roger W. Wischmeier (1974)
• Meter: LM
• Key: F Major
• Copyright: © Roger W. Wischmeier

Text Information:

A prayer for God's protection from treacherous enemies in old age "when strength has fled.”

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv. 1-4
st. 2 = vv. 5-8
st. 3 = vv. 9-11
st. 4 = vv. 12-14
st. 5 = vv. 15-16
st. 6 = vv. 17-18
st. 7 = vv. 19-21
st. 8 = vv. 22-24

The content of this prayer suggests that it was composed by a king, the LORD's anointed, in his old age. Seeing the king's vigor wane, his enemies suppose that "God has forsaken him" (v. 11), and they openly conspire against him. The king appeals for God's defense, recalling his lifelong trust in God (st. 1) and confessing that God has never failed to protect him (st. 2). Do not forsake me now, he prays, when my strength is gone and I am old and gray (st. 3). At the psalm's center the old king confesses with unfaltering faith, "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more" (v. 14; st. 4). Thereafter the psalm is a song of praise and thanks–for God's gracious display of power (st. 5); support of the king in his old age (st. 6); deliverance from troubles (st. 7); rescue from harm, and provision of lasting hope (st. 8). Clarence P. Walhout (PHH 6) versified this psalm in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
When Christians reflect on the frailty of life and sense the need for God's lifelong help.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

Roger Wayne Wischmeier (b. Sioux City, IA, 1935) composed JUDSON in 1974. It was first sung on October 31, 1975, with James D. Cramer's text "I Sing the Goodness of the Lord" at Judson College, Elgin, Illinois, in a drama about Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary to Burma. Wischmeier comments, “The original text by Cramer provides a vivid sense of God's providence in spite of affliction. The paraphrase of Psalm 71 for the Psalter Hymnal has much of this same flavor.” The original version of the tune, which included a slightly different ending and an Amen, was included in a hymnal supplement prepared by Daniel Landes for a dissertation at Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

An organist, music theorist, and church musician, Wischmeier teaches music at Sterling College, Kansas. He previously taught at Southern Baptist Seminary and Grace College of the Bible, Omaha, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and received his D.M.A. from Southern Baptist Seminary. Wischmeier was a founding member of the Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians and served as editor of their FABM Newsletter (1973-1977).

Intended for unison singing, JUDSON consists of four phrases, of which the first and third are identical and the second and fourth are similar. The harmonization requires clear articulation on the organ and a moderate tempo. This psalm favors antiphonal performance: the outer stanzas (1, 8) and the theme stanza (4) may be sung by every¬one; the other stanzas by alternating groups.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook