O Lord, do not rebuke me

‘Depression’ has a contemporary ring to it. But while the word may be relatively modern in common use, it is true to the mood of several of its biblical neighbours. This one reaches a different dimension as one of the traditional ‘seven penitential Psalms’—the others being 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143—including awareness of the wrath of God and the closeness of death. There, is, however, a triumphant conclusion once the problem has been admitted and faced. David Preston’s simple paraphrase was among the first to be written for BP, c1974, and is included here without alteration. Luther writes in his Preface to the Psalter that ‘you will never find the straits, the sorrows and the pains of a distressed mind anywhere described in a more expressive manner than in the Psalms of temptations, or of complaints; as in Psalm 6 and the like, where you see all dark and gloomy, all full of anguish and distress, under a sight and sense of divine wrath, and the working of despair’. But on the urgency of the Psalm’s plea, Calvin says more positively that out of compassion God ‘permits us to pray to him to make haste to succour us; but when we have freely complained of his long delay … we must submit our case entirely to his will, and not wish him to make greater haste than shall seem good to him.’ CH2004 again turns to H F Lyte here, for his remarkable (updated) text Gently, gently, lay your rod. The tune LILY is found with the words My love is like the lily in a collection of 50 Songs of Old Ireland (1882) arranged by Charles V Stanford. It was attached to this text on its first appearance; the canonical title for Psalm 45 (‘Set to The Lilies’) may suggest a precedent here.

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*.