Hymn of the Week: I Love the Lord, Who Heard My Cry
Glory to God: 799

Text Isaac Watts 1715
Music Richard Smallword 1975

I love the Lord, who heard my cry
and pitied ev’ry groan.
Long as I live and troubles rise,
I’ll hasten to God’s throne.

I love the Lord, who heard my cry
and chased my grief a-way.
O let my heart no more despair
while I have breath to pray.

Isaac Watts

During the summer months, we will be looking at one hymn poet per month. For the month of June, we will be focused on 4 wonderful and seldom sung texts by one of the greatest hymn writers of this and every age, Isaac Watts.

Psalm 116:1-2

1 I love the Lord because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

Isaac Watts came along at a time when the church was singing the Psalms as they were written in the Bible. This created problems for the congregation singing as the tune and meter of the hymn were forced onto the text which created poorly written tunes and awkward rhyme scheme. Isaac Watts, being frustrated with the quality of hymn writing was complaining to his father about it and his father wisely suggested that he try and do it better. We are grateful the younger Isaac took the elder Isaac’s advice. Isaac's first hymn was, “Behold the Glories of the Lamb” which appeared in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs published in 1707.

An interesting sidebar about Isaac’s father. He and his family were a part of the nonconformist congregations which we now know as Baptists, Quakers, and Presbyterians along with other non-established congregations. His father was arrested several times for being a pastor for these congregations at the time of Isaac Watts’ birth in 1674.

Isaac left his native Southampton in 1696 to pursue study as a minister in an Independent (nonconformist) academy led by Rev. Thomas Rowe. He continued to write poetry and hymns throughout his time of the study. While there, his brother Enoch sent Isaac a letter that compares his brother’s poems/hymns to others he was hearing from other poets/hymn writers. Here is a quote from that letter remembering that congregations were still singing the Psalms: “a mighty deficiency of that life and soul, which is necessary to raise our fancies and kindle and fire our passions. I have been persuaded to a great while since that was David to speak English, he would choose to make use of your style.”

Here is Watt’s poetic version of the Psalm text from above.

I love the Lord; he heard my cries,
And pitied every groan;
Long as I live, when troubles rise,
I'll hasten to his throne.

Watts’ version of this Psalm falls under the title “Recovery from Sickness.” and proclaims that when we cry out to the Lord, God hears our cries and groans and that throughout our lives when we are troubled, our response is to pray. As long as we pray, God will take our grief and despair.

Fast forward 250 years later and we come to composer Richard Smallwood.

Composer, arranger, pianist, and music director Richard Smallwood was born November 30, 1948, in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned degrees in vocal performance and piano performance from Howard University, with additional graduate work in ethnomusicology. He earned a Masters of Divinity from Howard University in 2004.

His father was the pastor of the historic Union Temple in Washington, D.C., and his mother strongly encouraged his musical talent. After college, he taught music at the University of Maryland; then in 1977, he formed the Richard Smallwood Singers. Their first album in 1982, The Richard Smallwood Singers, spent 87 weeks at no. 1 on Billboard's Gospel chart. Smallwood has remained popular throughout his career, writing "Center of My Joy" with Bill and Gloria Gaither in 1984, and later such hits as "Total Praise," "Angels," "Healing," "Anthem of Praise," and "Bless the Lord." To date, Smallwood has recorded fifteen albums, and he produced the Grammy- and Dove-Award-winning Quincy Jones recording of Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. He was elected to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

"I Love the Lord" was sung by Whitney Houston as the closing song of the 1996 movie, The Preacher's Wife. The original soundtrack album is the best-selling gospel album of all time and remained number one on Billboard's Top Gospel Albums Chart for twenty-six weeks.

Here are two great recordings of this hymn. The first is from Richard Smallwood’s recording mentioned earlier and I needed to share Whitney Houston’s version of it from the film, The Preacher’s Wife which was a remake of the Cary Grant film, The Bishop’s Wife.

Enjoy them both!

Hymn of the Week: June 13, 2022