People You Have Probably Never Heard Of But Should: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt was born in 1607 in Germany.  He enrolled in the University of Wittenberg in 1628 and graduated in 1642.  Though his schooling was to make him a pastor he was not immediately placed into a pastorate.  The Thirty Years War caused a great amount of tumult and difficulty during this time.  Finally in 1651 he was appointed as the new Probst at Mittenwalde.  (Ask me where Mittenwalde is, and I’ll point you to Wikipedia).  Here he was married and had children.  He also began writing hymns. 

In 1657 he and his family moved to Berlin.  Here in Berlin there was a heated debate between the Reformed church and the Lutheran church.  Gerhardt himself was Lutheran and a model voice in the debates of his time.  Though during his life he was probably most remembered as a pastor and for his work in these counsels to try to bring unity, it is his hymn writing that has struck a chord with me.

Why You Should Know Him:

Very little is left of Gerhardt’s sermons and we know next to nothing of his posterity.  Yet, the Lord has seen fit to preserve many hymns of Gerhardt.  I am sure that if given the time and the research there would be a few things that I would disagree with Gerhardt on.  (His somewhat sissy looking mustache is one of them).  But these hymns are rich.  They bear the mark of “A theologian experienced in the sieve of Satan”. 

Gerhardt’s hymns show a man that is well acquainted with sorrow and yet a man that has drawn from the deep well of Jesus.  He is at times broken and confused but ever trusting in the redemption to be brought to him.  His trust in Christ makes Gerhardt somebody worthy of reading. 

Sample:

A couple of days ago I posted Give to the Winds Thy Fears.  (That song has been remade by Jars of Clay and is available for your viewing at the end of this post. 

Here are a few stanzas from various poems that I found refreshing:

From Say With What Salutations?

From Why Without, Then, Art Thou Staying?

From Christian Devotion to God’s Will:

Further Reading:

There is a compilation of many of his hymns available for free at Google. 
Also available is a lengthy biography on Gerhardt and his influential hymn writing.
There have been a few more biographies written on Gerhardt, but the two free links above will suffice for a helpful introduction to Gerhardt. 

This is from Jars of Clay:

Give to the Winds Thy Fears

I am finding great comfort in this hymn by Paul Gerhardt:

Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.

Still heavy is thy heart?
Still sinks thy spirit down?
Cast off the world, let fear depart
Bid every care begone.

What though Thou rulest not;
Yet heaven, and earth, and hell
Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
And ruleth all things well.

And whatsoe’er Thou will’st,
Thou dost, O King of kings;
What Thine unerring wisdom chose,
Thy power to being brings.

Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,
How wise, how strong this hand.

Far, far above thy thought,
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought,
That caused thy needless fear.

Thou seest our weakness, Lord;
Our hearts are known to Thee;
O lift Thou up the sinking hand,
Confirm the feeble knee!

Let us in life, in death,
Thy steadfast truth declare,
And publish with our latest breath
Thy love and guardian care.