Lord, in you I've taken refuge

Authors:
Themes:
Scriptures:
  • Psalms 10:1
  • Psalms 108:1-2
  • Psalms 139:13-16
  • Psalms 150:3
  • Psalms 22:10
  • Psalms 31:1-3
  • Psalms 71:1
  • Psalms 78:3-7
  • Isaiah 46:4
  • Joel 1:3
  • 2 Timothy 3:15
Book Number:
  • 71

Lord, in you I’ve taken refuge,
let me not be put to shame;
God most righteous, turn and save me,
Rock of refuge, still the same;
speak the word for my salvation,
be the fortress of my life;
spare me from the powers of evil,
from their wickedness and strife.

2. From my earliest years I’ve known you,
sovereign Lord of all my days,
from the womb sustained, provided;
let my mouth declare your praise;
though the world may mock and wonder,
you are my security;
in old age do not forsake me,
scorn not my infirmity.

3. All my foes conspire together:
‘Kill him, now his God has gone!’
O my God, be not far from me,
cover them with shame and scorn.
As for me, my hope is certain;
I will praise your name in song,
all your righteousness proclaiming,
your salvation all day long.

4. From my youth your word has taught me;
keep me, when I’m old and grey,
telling every generation
all the power your works display,
righteousness I cannot measure
reaching far beyond the skies;
who on earth, O God, is like you,
ever mighty, ever wise?

5. Though my way be dark and bitter,
yet I’ll see my life restored,
from the depths raised up, exalted,
loved and honoured by the Lord.
Praise the Holy One of Israel,
harp and lyre and joyful voice!
Tell to all of my Redeemer,
shout aloud! My soul, rejoice!

© Author
Jim Sayers

The Christian Life - Perseverance

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Tune

The story behind the hymn

Jim Sayers has written a full paraphrase of this Psalm which is sometimes overshadowed by the one following. But 71 contains some striking pictures, reflected in the 2nd and 4th stzs of this version which was written in 1998 for the present book, ‘on several Ipswich-London trains on my way to the Evangelical Ministry Assembly [at St Helen’s Bishopsgate]’. Some phrases, admits the author, ‘fall short of the glories they are trying to render’. It is first published here. The Psalm is unusual in dealing with the ageing process, and conveys the spirit of an author who says in v14 ‘I will … praise you yet more and more’. It contemplates old age with calm faith, but it is not restricted to senior citizens. It was first sung in 1999 at the Bethesda, Felixstowe (Suffolk), Women’s Fellowship. Peter Ninnis wrote the tune for his own text Sovereign Lord, we sing your glory (543) on ‘a Tuesday afternoon in 1988’, and it was thought equally suitable for these words. SOVEREIGN LORD, named from the earlier hymn, should not be confused with SOVEREIGN GOD, soon to follow at 74. Both tunes happen to be published for the first time in the same book.

A look at the author

Sayers, James (Jim) David

b Epsom, Surrey 1966. Ashcombe Sch Dorking, Univ Coll of Wales, Aberystwyth (LL.B) and Edinburgh Theological Seminary (DipTh, M.Th). After two and a half years as assistant to Brian Edwards at Hook Evangelical Ch (FIEC), Surbiton, he became Pastor of Kesgrave Grace Baptist Ch, Ipswich, Suffolk, from 1995. Then in 2009 he moved to Abingdon to become Communications Director of Grace Baptist Mission. In 2020 he moved to Didcot to lead a church-plant, Grace Church Didcot. He chaired the team selecting versions of the 150 Psalms for Praise! He became a trustee of Praise Trust in 2016, and chairman in 2018.

He has 10 published texts, as here, of which the first he wrote (1994) was based on Ps 30. Nos.2B, 30A, 39, 59, 69A, 71, 86, 719, 1013, 1249. He also wrote the revised version of O Holy Night CP47