Watchword of the Reformers

Jehovah Tsidkenu

The Lord Our Righteousness

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I know not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.
I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage,
Isaiah’s wild measure and John’s simple page;
But e’en when they pictured the blood–sprinkled tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.
Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu—’twas nothing to me.
When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see—
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.
My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life–giving and free—
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.
Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;
In Thee I shall conquer by flood and by field—
My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!
Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This “watchword” shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu my death–song shall be.
—Robert Murray McCheyne.
November 18, 1834

I hope to get back to some more Reformed teachings, and puritan thought over the coming days. I have something in mind to post about the upcoming "festive" season from a Biblical perspective, yet its taking a lot of thought and planning, so may take a day or two, as its a subject which is very sensitive, to many good, solid Christians, and I don't want to cause offense to others who may view the upcoming "festive" season differently,  and I have other friends who see it exactly the same as I do, but it is something that I feel I should say, for various reasons, and my first duty is to God above man. Please be patient, as I seem to have been battling the elements with this disease more than usual the past weeks, of what I am able to do or not, both energy and strength wise, and because I have beeen semi-permanently comatose with sleep disorders, on and off for several weeks.