O LORD My Rock, in Desperation

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O LORD my rock, in desperation

Versifier: Marie J. Post (1982)
Tune: SPIRITUS VITAE
CCLI Number: 5030785
Published in 2 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

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 >

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First Line:	O LORD my rock, in desperation
Title:	O LORD My Rock, in Desperation
Versifier:	Marie J. Post (1982)
Meter:	9.8.9.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	© 1987, CRC Publications

Psalm 28
(hymns)

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Notes

A prayer of the LORD's anointed for deliverance from unscrupulous and treacherous rebels.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = v. 1
st. 2 = vv. 2-3
st. 3 = vv. 3-4
st. 4 = v. 5
st. 5 =vv. 6-7
st. 6 = vv. 8-9

The psalmist's enemies appear to be rebels within the kingdom who plot against the LORD's anointed-they "speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts" (v. 3). The psalm opens with a plea for God to defend his servant (st. 1). While praying to be spared from the fate of sinners (st. 2), the psalm singer calls upon God to deal with the rebels as they deserve (st. 3) and declares confidently that God "will cast them down" and "will never let them rise" (st. 4). A call to praise God for hearing this prayer (st. 5) accompanies a testimony to God's faithful defense of the anointed and a prayer to the Shepherd of Israel to save and bless the people (st. 5-6). Marie J. Post (PHH 5) prepared this versification in 1982 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Situations of personal or communal distress; occasions when the church recalls Christ's Suffering; and times when Christians need to pray for other Christians who are being persecuted.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

SPIRITUS VITAE

The name SPIRITUS VITAE derives from the Latin translation of Bessie P. Head's text "O Breath of Life, " for which Mary Jane Hammond (b. England, 1878; d. St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, 1964) composed the tune around 1914. That text and SPIRITUS VITAE were first published in Heavenly Places and…

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