Common Tune: TERRA PATRIS
Having a good support system is part of our vernacular nowadays. We toss that phrase around in seminars and workshops… sermons and Bible studies. It makes perfectly good sense, whether we think of it in secular or spiritual terms. We are NOT in this alone, and we should take advantage of every opportunity to be supportive of others… and to accept support when it is offered to us.
This hymnline is from one of those hymn-texts we sing rarely, and when we do, it is often at a memorial service. The second stanza from which this line is lifted is not so much about the eventual eternal life as it is about the one we are currently enjoying.
“With you at my right hand, then I shall never fail.
Uphold me, Lord, and I shall stand. Through grace I will prevail.”
It seems that James Montgomery understood our best support system to be the Lord Christ himself. As we sing these phrases, we are reminded that we agree with him: we stand best when we are upheld by the Lord at our right hand… and our left for that matter!
Life is filled with failures. We make mistakes more often than we would like to admit. We are at times going to be tripped up by life, fall flat on our faces, seem like complete failures. Ultimately, when the dust settles, the realization comes: “I shall never fail with you at my right hand.”
Hang on to your human support system – give support, receive support. But don’t for a moment discount your primary Upholder. Lean heavily on those everlasting arms. He will not let you fall… or become a total failure!
An organ setting of this hymn tune
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