July 29, 2018
Below is the result of a collaboration with my dad. I wrote the music (Hymn #1) and he supplied lyrics based on Doctrine & Covenants Section 76. This is exactly the kind of collaboration I've been seeking and welcome anyone to use my harmonizations for inspiration in writing hymn texts. Enjoy!
For the Lord is God, no Savior beside Him.
Great is His wisdom, His ways marvelous.
None can stay His hand, His purposes fail not.
From all eternity, He's the same.
Merciful and gracious to all who fear Him.
Honors those who serve Him in truth to the end.
Great their reward, all mysteries reveal.
Eternal their glory, His glory.
Their wisdom great, and wiser than the wise.
Their understanding to heaven reach.
By His Spirit will He enlighten them.
By His power will make known secret will.
Marvelous His works, which surpasses all.
Understood by pow'r of the Holy Spirit.
By those who love, each purified by Him.
Whom he grants this privilege, see and know.
-Dirk Whatcott
Doctrine and Covenants 76:1-4
1 HEAR, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior.
2 Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out.
3 His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand.
4 From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail.
Doctrine and Covenants 76:5-7
5 For thus saith the Lord--I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
7 And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
Doctrine and Covenants 76:9-10
9 And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.
10 For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will--yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.
Doctrine and Covenants 76:114-117
114 But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion;
115 Which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter;
116 Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him;
117 To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves;
-Michael Whatcott