Hymns: My Jesus, my Saviour (Shout to the Lord)

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.

Today’s song is Shout to the Lord from 1993.

I think of Hillsong music as 21st Century music, but this one goes all the way back to 1993, and it’s widely sung in Irish churches. It’s a simple song of love and devotion to Jesus. I read that it’s estimated to be sung by 25–30 million churchgoers every Sunday, making it one of the most widely sung worship songs in the world. The writer, Darlene Zschech, wrote it during a time of personal discouragement. I don’t imagine that I’ll ever write a hymn that’ll be sung by millions, but when I’m discouraged, surely I should do what Darlene did and draw comfort from Jesus. And when I praise Him, I’m just one little voice, but He’ll listen to me as much as He listens to the millions of others who praise Him. It’s a real joy to know that it’s sung around the world. And I like the fact that I still hear it sung. So many of the 20th Century “new songs” seemed to be largely forgotten nowadays.

Here are some other renditions of today’s hymn:

Psalm 96:11-12
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.