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I'll lift my voice, O Lord
- Psalms 103:9
- Psalms 115:17
- Psalms 126:5-6
- Psalms 30
- Psalms 6:5
- Psalms 88:10-12
- 30B
I’ll lift my voice, O Lord,
to glorify your name,
for you have lifted me
above defeat and shame;
you heard my cry to heal and save,
and stooped to raise me from the grave.
2. Then to his holy name
let all his saints give praise:
his wrath is brief, his grace
is with us all our days,
for grief and tears may last a night,
but joy will come with morning light.
3. In easy times I’d felt
secure from all life’s ills:
your hand upheld me, Lord,
like Zion’s timeless hills;
but with your smile no longer there
assurance plunged to deep despair.
4. To you, O Lord, I cried:
‘What can my death achieve?
From bones among the dust
what praise will you receive?
O Lord, be merciful to me!
Come quickly, help me—hear my plea!’
5. O how I leapt for joy
as grief was put to flight!
My sackcloth you removed
and clothed me with delight,
that you, O Lord, I might adore
and give you thanks for evermore.
© Author / Jubilate Hymns
David G Preston
The Christian Life - Humbling and Restoration
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The story behind the hymn
David Preston’s version of what seems to be an autobiographical Psalm is in contrasting metre; it was written at Three Mile Cross near Reading in 1989 (for Carey Praise), revised in June 1995, and like its partner 30A is first formally published here. Of the Scripture original, Derek Kidner says ‘David’s unaffected delight at being restored shines through every word, quite undimmed by time’. Stz 3, representing vv6–8 of the Psalm, may be compared with the equivalent lines in 30A. David McCarthy’s tune ANDREW was composed by request of the compilers of the 1969 Methodist supplement Hymns and Songs (though not retained in Hymns and Psalms in 1983). It was written for The God who rules the earth (by Richard Jones), is set elsewhere to Ian Fraser’s Lord, bring the day to pass, and is named after a pupil who encouraged the composer at a crucial stage. David Preston points to the ‘rising’ opening of the tune matched by the text in stzs 1 and 5.
A look at the author
Preston, David George
b London 1939. d 2020. Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School, Kennington, London; Keble College Oxford (MA Mod Langs.) He worked as a French Teacher, including 11 years at Ahmadu Bello Univ, Nigeria, and gained a PhD on the French Christian poet Pierre Emmanuel (1916 84). A member of Carey Baptist Ch, Reading, for many years, he later moved to Alweston, nr Sherborne, Dorset. He compiled The Book of Praises (Carey Publications, Liverpool) in 1987, with versions of 71 Psalms; these include modified texts of Watts and a few other classic paraphrasers, but most are by contemporary writers including himself. 60 of his metrical Psalm versions are so far published, including one each in Sing Glory (2000), the Scottish Church Hymnary 4th Edn (2005) and Sing Praise (2010), and 3 in the 2004 edn of CH; also 10 tunes. His writing and composing has taken place in Leicester, Reading, Nigeria and his present home; he was a member of the editorial board throughout the preparation of Praise! and had a major share in the choice of music for the Psalm texts (1-150). His convictions about the Psalms, as expressed in the Introduction to BP, are that ‘There is nothing to compare with their blend of the subjective and the objective, the inner life and practical goodness, the knowledge of one’s own rebellious heart and the knowledge of God…Today’s general neglect of congregational Psalm singing is a symptom of the spiritual malaise of our churches. When the preaching of the Gospel has prospered, bringing into being churches vibrant with spiritual life, men and women have taken great delight in praising their Maker and Redeemer through these scriptural hymns’. 15 of his own, self-selected, feature as his share of ‘contemporary hymns’ in the 2009 Come Celebrate; he has also served as a meticulous proof-reader. Nos.1, 2A, 5*, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 17, 19A, 24A, 27A, 30B, 32*, 33*, 38, 40, 42, 43, 47, 51*, 52, 55, 57*, 64, 66, 74, 76, 77, 84, 90, 91A, 96*, 97, 99, 100B, 101, 114*, 120, 126, 132, 139, 142*, 143, 145A, 147*, 824*, 830*, 963*.