We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,

Sing praises to His name: He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning:

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation:

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

NETHERLANDS FOLK HYMN

Translated by Theodore Baker (1851–1934)

NO ONE KNOWS who the author of this hymn was, but we can trace it to the Netherlands in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. The Dutch were praying for freedom from Spanish oppression.

This hymn was written to give thanks for the victory that was almost in sight. For these Dutch believers, “the wicked oppressing” were the Spaniards, who would “now cease from distressing.” And there was no doubt that God should receive the glory for the victory.

Life is often like that. The victory may still be around the corner, but that should not keep us from giving thanks. For Holland, a golden age of prosperity—of world exploration, of artists like Rembrandt and scientists like Leeuwenhoek—was only a few decades away. And blessings like these are merely a foretaste of what God has for us in the future.

May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.

Psalm 67:1-2