Psalm 22

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. Psalm xxii. 22.

A song o’erflows my heart today
In echo of another,
A measure of the heav’nly lay
Began by Christ my brother.
I could not still it if I tried,
So forcefully ‘tis ringing;
His glory with I e’er abide—
How can I keep from singing?

What though I here below may seem
By God, by God forsaken,
Thy praise-ringed throne I fairer deem
Than any trinket taken.
Our fathers trusted in your love,
Their cares upon you flinging;
You rescued them, and now above
You ever keep their singing.

(1 Pet 5:7)

Though I occasion heaping scorn,
A worm despised, rejected,
Encompassed round by foes, forlorn,
Abused, and unprotected,
Yet thou hast held me since the day
I to the breast was clinging,
And still my hope on thee I stay—
I will not keep from singing!

You neither hide from nor abhor
The cause of the afflicted,
But bid me cry thy throne before
With access unrestricted,
Till with the mighty, sainted throng,
As offertory bringing,
I can the Savior’s triumph song
Lift unto thee with singing.

The furthest ends of earth shall come,
Salvation’s ballad raising,
To join the saints already home
Engaged in happy praising,
And distant generations shall
Thee know in their upbringing
And sing, “Thou hast accomplished all;
How can I keep from singing?”

—3/14/26. From Psalm 22. To “Sicilia” (“How can I keep from singing?”)

This was inspired by Sinclair B Ferguson's episode of Things Unseen, “Singing with the Son of God.” There is something so delightful about the idea that Jesus Christ himself is the worship leader of heaven. I don’t thing I had ever clocked before, either, that while Psalm 22 is a lament, it is just as properly a praise. There is an interesting idea there that because Christ took the lament, we get the triumph. This flavors all our laments also, for as in ours we behold his, so also his triumph enables us to embrace the joy set before us (Heb 12:2). (Andrew Peterson has gone before me in linking this verse to Psalm 22 in his beautiful “Well Done, Good and Faithful.”)

If a church considered the allusion to nursing unseemly for their worship, the line My mother forth was bringing could be substituted. Though I would submit that the original line is biblical, this substitute is just as.

Finally, there are a couple of arrangements of the tune that have helped me develop this. The Tabernacle Choir was my introduction to this song. And Audrey Assad’s more intimate arrangement of it contains the tempo and feeling I have generally aspired to while writing this.


Audrey Assad, “How Can I Keep from Singing,” Inheritance.