The Hymn That Almost Never Was

In 1690s Southampton, England, a teenager named Isaac Watts walked home from church frustrated. The psalm singing was dreary, the melodies lifeless. He did what any teenager would do — he complained to his father.

His father, a deacon, did not sympathize. He issued a challenge: "Then write something better."

It would have been easy for young Isaac to dismiss the rebuke. He was a teenager criticizing the worship traditions of centuries. Who was he to write hymns? But instead of arguing or shrinking back, Watts obeyed. He went to his room and wrote his first hymn. The next Sunday, the congregation sang it. They asked for another the following week. And another after that.

Over his lifetime, Isaac Watts wrote more than 750 hymns, including Joy to the World, O God, Our Help in Ages Past, and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. He became known as the Father of English Hymnody, transforming how the church worships to this day.

But it all hinged on a moment of simple obedience — a young man accepting a challenge he did not feel ready for.

We often imagine obedience as something dramatic. But God frequently asks us to take one small, faithful step — write the hymn, make the call, forgive the person, serve where we are. We may not feel qualified. The task may seem too ordinary to matter.

But the Almighty who turned a teenager's homework assignment into three centuries of worship can do extraordinary things with our ordinary yes.