“How Firm a Foundation” became a very popular hymn with the soldiers of both the North and the South during the Civil War. It was a favorite hymn of President Theodore Roosevelt. Andrew Jackson requested that it be sung at his deathbed. Confederate General Robert E. Lee asked that it be sung at his funeral.
This hymn is still a favorite today because of its scriptural promises of divine strength during times of trouble and tribulation. The first verse acts almost as an introduction to the rest of the text, giving us cause to pause and ponder the assurances our God gives in his Word. These assurances are laid out in greater detail in the following four verses. For this devotion, after the first verse is read, a scriptural promise will be made, followed by the hymn verse that rephrases and reemphasizes that promise.
Verse one: How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent Word! What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
In a world of real fears and real concerns, God reminds us, “Do not fear” and “Do not be dismayed.” Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be overwhelmed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Verse two: “Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid; I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
Isaiah 43:2 gives a beautiful comfort in every danger – whether physical or spiritual. “When you cross through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not set you on fire.”
Verse three: “When through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow, for I will be with you, your troubles to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress.
St. Paul promises that there is not a single thing in the physical or spiritual realm that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The prophet Zechariah assures that God’s people will suffer, but that suffering will produce God’s intended glorious outcome – like gold refined in fire. Zechariah 13:9: “I will put that third into the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “This is my people.” And they will say, “The Lord is my God.”
Verse four: “When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace all-sufficient shall be your supply; the flames will not hurt you; I only design your dross to consume and your gold to refine.
Moses announced this promise to the children of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid and do not be terrified before them, because the Lord your God is going with you. He will not abandon you and he will not forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Verse five: “The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desert to its foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”