As a teenager attending a theology conference, Mike Horton walked up to James Montgomery Boice, an influential pastor at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and said, “Dr. Boice, I want to be a reformer like you.” That moment in the late ’70s ignited a mentorship, and partnership, that would span decades. It was in 1999 that Boice remarked to the music director at Tenth, “It seems to me if we are going to have a modern reformation, we will need some new music.” Boice’s first foray, “Give Praise to God,” is a fitting conclusion to this print run of MR, wonderfully capturing the end for which the magazine has existed: the glory of God.
- Jonathan Landry Cruse, Poetry Editor
Give Praise to God
Give praise to God, who reigns above,
For perfect knowledge, wisdom, love;
His judgments are divine, devout,
His paths beyond all tracing out.
Refrain
Come, lift your voice to heav’n’s high throne,
And glory give to God alone!
No one can counsel God all-wise
Or truths unveil to his sharp eyes;
He marks our paths behind, before;
He is our steadfast Counselor.
Nothing exists that God might need,
For all things good from him proceed.
We praise him as our Lord, and yet
We never place God in our debt.
Creation, life, salvation too,
And all things else both good and true,
Come from and through our God always,
And fill our hearts with grateful praise.
Footnotes
Words to “Give Praise to God” copyright 1999. Reprinted from Hymns for a Modern Reformation by permission of Linda M. Boice & Paul S. Jones; Distributed by Paul Jones Music, Inc.
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