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Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Cor. ii. 16.

O Comfort from the Lord,
Who all his depths declares,
Who plants in us the living word
And girds our prayers:
For thorns and flaming darts,
Be all sufficiency,
And unto glory seal our hearts
As guarantee.

O Wisdom from on high,
Who sojourned here below
And intercedes unceasingly
In us to grow:
Guide every step we take,
Watch o’er us while we sleep,
And still be with us when we wake
To converse keep.

O Patriarch of Lights,
In constance shining e’er,
Who every blessing in the heights
Dost freely share,
Predestining in love,
Adopting by thy grace:
We lift our eyes to thee above
With fear and praise.

—10/20/25. To “Leoni” (“The God of Abraham Praise”).

Epigraph: 2 Cor 2:16
I. John 14:26; 1 Cor 2:9-11; James 1:21; Rom 8:26-27;
    2 Cor 12:7-9; Eph 6:16; 2 Cor 5:4-5
II. 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 7:25; Prov 6:22; Ps 139:18
III. James 1:17; Eph 1:3-6; Ps 121:1

This started out as a meditation on Prov 6:22 and an inkling from Leoni, a beloved tune from a beloved hymn. With the Father, it became Trinitarian; then came the thought: There is so much God in our God; how can I put him in a song? Eventually I narrowed it down to the work he does to preserve us in the way. There is something wonderful about asking God to be God to us. Before I wax all philosophical, here is the tune:



There are a couple of distinct pleasures in the writing. One is that sometimes, I will just get a real meaty passage and get to run with it, as Ephesians in the third verse here, or Philippians in the last of “Buried with Christ.” It feels like running downhill as fast as I can. Like trying to outrun gravity. Other times, there is the joy of mining treasure (Job 28:9-23), which I start by knowing neither what I want nor am allowed to say. Such was my labor in the first verse, before I’d really put together what I was trying to bring out.

I got to see Shane & Shane with John Piper last week. The worship was glorious. I have never heard a more joyous Old Hundredth, Doxology, Amen, and silence. How can a silence be so satisfied yet so hungry for more? Imagine a heaven’s worth of saints engaged in that praise. Incredible.

Piper’s message on Eph 5:15-20 made a point of “purchasing the moment,” his rendering of the Greek behind “redeeming the time.” Do something crazy, he said. And then he spent the rest of the sermon breaking down the rest of the passage in a way I wish I could remember. He stacked the “do not…but be” passages in a way that showed how they flow through the believer, ending in worship, song, and thanksgiving. I wish I had time to dig into more of his sermons.

Shane & Shane also mentioned that starting out as musicians, they loved the Lord, but as they served him in worship, they started also growing in love for the church. This night crystallized a conviction for me: I want, as I told my sister and her husband on the ride down, to give the church the words it needs. And those words are not my words, but God’s. Hence citing my sources. The goal, as I heard the Shanes say last year, is to plagiarize as much as possible. I want the church to get to a line and trigger a memory of where in the Bible it comes from. I want the church’s Scriptural synapses to be as lit up singing as mine were writing. I want the church hyperlinking Scriptures, as my old small group leader calls it.

I wish I knew how to build up the church’s Scriptural literacy. Whatever grace there is in what I do, it is only in pointing to something far, far greater than my own work.

Another thought from last week: It is not enough to have the words. The Lord didn’t command us to always address one another in rhymes and meters and spiritual lines. It is psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. I need to figure out how to get the music in. This is borne from that. I want to give the church songs. I’m not quite sure how. One thing at a time, I guess. The desire is there, and I have seen the Lord moving a couple of pieces around me. Mine is to walk; his to set the path. Wherever “there” is, he will get me there.

There is so much more I wish I knew how to say. About the Lord and his unceasing love and daily mercy. About the blessing of digging into his word. About the sheer joy of writing about it. About the desire to one day write something worth being set as a single pearl upon the Bride’s wedding dress. I haven’t yet. I don’t think I get to know if I do, on this earth. But just one thing to bring glory to the Lord and comfort to his saints.