Our Faithful God

Our faithful God makes plans which cannot fail

Author: Hendrik Pierson (1904); Translator: Stanley M. Wiersma (1974)
Tune: GREGOR'S 112TH METRE
Published in 1 hymnal

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Author: Hendrik Pierson

(no biographical information available about Hendrik Pierson.) Go to person page >

Translator: Stanley M. Wiersma

Pseudonym: Sietze Buning ********** Stanley Marvin Wiersma (b. Orange City, IA, 1930; d. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1986) was a poet and professor of English at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1959 until his sudden death in 1986. He attended Calvin as an under­graduate and received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. His love for the Genevan psalms is reflected in the two books of poetry for which he is most widely known: Purpaleanie and Other Permutations (1978) and Style and Class (1982), both written under the pseudonym Sietze Buning. He also wrote More Than the Ear Discovers: God in the Plays of Christopher Fry and translated many Dutch poems and hymn texts into English, including the children's hymns publ… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Our faithful God makes plans which cannot fail
Title: Our Faithful God
Author: Hendrik Pierson (1904)
Translator: Stanley M. Wiersma (1974)
Language: English
Copyright: Translation ©1987, CRC Publications

Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Rom. 8:30
st. 3 = Col. 1:9

Dutch pastor Hendrik Pierson (b. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1834; d. Groningen, the Netherlands, 1923) wrote the original text “God is getrouw, zijn plannen falen niet”, and published it in Vluchtheuvel Gezangen (1904), which he compiled for the Vluchtheuvel Church in Zetten. It was also published in the Psalmen en Gezangen (1938) of the Dutch Hervormde Kerk and then brought to North America by Dutch-Canadian immigrants after World War II. Stanley M. Wiersma's (PHH 25) translation was first published in the Psalter Hymnal Supplement in 1974.

The three stanzas display a Trinitarian pattern: stanza 1 is about God's providence; stanza 2, Christ's victorious rule; stanza 3, the Spirit's leading of the church. Together the stanzas portray a powerful vision of God's providence as a doctrine that brings comfort to Christians.

Pierson not only served as a pastor in Heinenoord and Hertogenbosch, he was also director of the Heldring Institute in Zetten, which operated halfway houses and schools for girls and young women. He was a leader in various social movements in the Netherlands, especially militating against legalized prostitution. In his life and work he maintained a fine balance between theology, worship, and the diaconal work of the church. Pierson wrote a number of hymns.

Liturgical Use:
Worship that focuses on God's providence or the Trinity; ordination/commissioning services; church dedications and anniversaries; new ventures in church ministries.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

GREGOR'S 112TH METRE

Christian Gregor, Moravian minister and musician (b. Dirsdorf, Silesia 1723; d. Berthelsdorf, near Herrnhut, Saxony, 1801), wrote GREGOR'S 112TH METRE as a setting for "Er wird es tun, der fromme treue Gott" and published it in his Choralbuch in 1784 (hymn no. 112). That hymnal was a supplement to t…

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Media

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #445
  • Bulletin Score (PDF)
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Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #445

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