Last night after getting home from church, as I was about to gather the things for the Psalm my family would sing this week, I saw the news of the Egyptian Christians beheaded by ISIS. I pointed the story out to my older sons. We have talked much over the last year about the call in Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful unto death.”

Then I returned to the Psalm work. I remembered a Psalm we had sung in church recently that I thought worked well (tune & words), and I thought we could sing it at home. When I pulled out the worship guide I saw that it was Psalm 31, the metrical version of Tate & Brady, with some adjustments by Chris Mathews. We sang it to the tune, “St. Thomas,” which my family associates most readily with “Rise Up O Men of God.” The closing verse seemed particularly appropriate in light of the news.

(v24) Ye that on God rely, courageously proceed:

For He will still your hearts supply with strength in time of need.

I was glad to be able to sing this Psalm with my children this morning, God-inspired words to a noble tune reinforcing in our souls the call to carry on courageously in the face of opposition (context of the rest of the Psalm) trusting that God will supply the strength we need.