Granny and I were both with Pap when he died. He’d had a terrible rough night and had prayed aloud to God more than once for mercy. He also spoke of Job and his wife in the hours before his death.
It was at one of the first music practices after Pap died that Paul played and sung Job’s God for me. I was floored by the song’s lyrics which show despair, longing, hope, and faith. I was also moved by the song’s title since Pap had spoke of Job just before he died.
After Pap’s death and mention of Job, Paul found the complete lyrics online and learned the song. He said Pap had been trying to remember the words to the song for a good long while and could only sing a small portion of it. Pap thought he remembered Conway Twitty doing the song, but Paul said he later figured out the Conway Twitty song Pap was thinking about was a different one.
I could not get the song out of my mind. The next time we practiced I made Paul let me record it just so I could listen to it anytime I wanted to…and listen to it I did. The song became my comfort for missing Pap. In those first miserable days and weeks of grieving I’d listen to Job’s God on the way to work and remind myself how lucky I was that I could look about me and see God, and how I was even luckier that when I couldn’t see him, He was still there watching over me. I told myself with that knowledge I could surely pull myself together and keep putting one foot in front of the other even though all I wanted to do was go sit in some dark holler up the creek and never come out.
I researched the song for days and couldn’t really find anything. I told Paul “If we ever do put Job’s God up you’ll get the most hits of anyone because there’s hardly nobody that does the song.” Hymnary.org credits the song to S. N. Greene but has no other information about Greene nor the song. I also found the song was listed in the Public Domain which usually means it’s an old traditional song that no one knows the original author of.
Here’s what Paul had to say about it when he uploaded the song to the Blind Pig and The Acorn Youtube Channel.
This is a song that I heard my Dad try to sing once or twice over the years. He only knew part of the first verse. The first line always struck me and stirred my imagination. After he went on to be with God, I searched online and found the lyrics. I was motivated to learn the song because Dad mentioned Job in one of the last things he said here on earth. I could not verify who wrote the song. It may be very old. Dad may have heard it from the Taylor Brothers (Marvin and Minnis, a gospel brother duet who performed in the Detroit area). Dad owned a couple of their LP’s on Heritage Records. Job’s God is on the LP entitled “Touch Me.” The Taylor Brothers listed no author for that song. When Dad sang the one verse as a solo, he sang it very high, in the key of A. I can come close to the that key if I start low and work my way up, hence all the key changes (from Eflat gradually rising to Aflat). This song has powerful lyrics.
Lyrics:
I can feel the hand of Satan as a tempter pressing sore.
He has been before the Father, asking leave to press me more.Though God slay me, yet I’ll trust Him.
I shall then come forth as Gold,
And I know the redeemer liveth.
I can feel Him in my soul.I can hear the Father granting, saying, “You’ll not touch his life.
Though you crush him, he’ll not falter. He will rise above the strife.”Though God slay me, yet I’ll trust Him.
I shall then come forth as Gold,
And I know the redeemer liveth.
I can feel Him in my soul.Though I stumble, I’ll not stagger. By His Grace, I’ll make it through,
For His Grace is all sufficient, and I know that God is true.Though I look all about me, and His face I cannot see,
Still I know that through the darkness, He beholdeth even me.Though God slay me, yet I’ll trust Him.
I shall soon come forth as Gold,
And I know my redeemer liveth.
I can feel Him in my soul.
I hope you enjoyed the song. It has been well received when we’ve performed it over the last several months. When we did the song at the Historic Union County Courthouse in Blairsville GA an elderly gentleman, whom we had never met before, approached Paul after the show to ask if he’d be willing to come to south Georgia and do the song at his funeral. Paul told him yes he’d try his best to do just that.
Tipper
Really nice job, I’ve never heard this song, so sorry to hear Pap suffered so in his last hours, but we know he’s ok now..
That’s a truly powerful song. Beautiful!!!
One thing I always remember about the story of Job in The Bible, is that God had set a hedge of protection round about him, and we know, if God builds it, no one can tear it down, including satan. However, we ourselves can do things that weaken it, and in Job, Chapter 1, Verse 5, we find Job’s weakness.
Rather than trusting God for his children’s lives, he feared, i.e. worried, that his children were not living as righteously as they should and prayed to re-sanctify them daily, and that worry is what caused the chink in God’s hedge of protection that satan entered through to torture him.
God bless.
RB
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Paul did a wonderful job of singing this old and beautiful song. I know Pap is proud.
This post touched really touched my soul. What a testament you’re Daddy was and still is.Be blessed.
Such a beautiful song and the words so meaningful. Paul does it so well. Thank you for sharing it. I’m sure I will be back often to listen to it.
Tipper when Paul does that song on a CD I want a copy.
thanks
Marshall
Beautiful—glad to know of this song. Thank you!
I’m so sorry for your loss Tipper, I’ve not been around much for a while, but still peek at things now and then. I can see why that man would like to have him sing at his funeral. Lovely rendition of that song.
Blessings on you and your family!!!
Theresa
Several years back I taught the course “Spirituality in Nursing” for nurses getting their BS degrees. It was based out of the book of Job. I wish I had that song to play.
What a beautiful and consoling song! And Paul’s pure voice is perfect for conveying the message we all need to hear. Thank you, dear Tipper.
Beautiful song, beautiful rendition.
May God continue to Bless you and yours.
What a wonderful song. I’ve never heard it before and I’m so glad I have, now.
I’ve taught the Book of Job off and on over the years but what struck me as I listened to this song is the second verse. I’ve always been taught to have faith in God. But that verse expresses that God has faith in us, too. That is really powerful.
Something to study on as I porch sit on this oddly spring like day in late January.
Oh, my, I needed this SO much today. I am going through a very difficult time, and I just had to sit and cry as I listened to Paul’s beautiful voice singing these inspired, anointed lyrics. I wish we had known you were in Blairsville, we would have tried to come and hear you all. Is there a way we can know when you will be there again, or do you have an itinerary showing when you will be in certain places? Thank you for sharing this amazing song…I had never heard it, but, boy, did it bless me in this trial. God bless all of you dear ones.
Tipper,
That’s the first time I ever heard that song. I can’t imagine what must be going thru Paul’s mind, knowing that his dad was singing that song before he passed. My Prayers are with You, Paul, Steve, and Louzine. Whenever I was at any of You All’s Concerts, I felt relaxed and loved.
Me and my nearest brother, Harold, held Daddy’s hands as he passed into eternity back in ’82 and it’s still hard on me at times. I think God gives us those “tender” memories to help with the Loss of Family Members.
I had to fight back tears while reading today’s blog. Pap was a wonderful man! …Ken
Dear Tipper, I loved the song and I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments. Your father’s faith was so evident in the songs he sung. What a testimony to leave behind!
Had never heard that song before. Like the lyrics and it is sung beautifully. Thank you for sharing. God Bless.
My Goodness! What a beautiful song and what a great job Paul did singing it.
Beautiful.
so appropriate to hear this Sunday morning. What a great tribute to Pap. Excellent job Paul.
Wow Tipper, what a wonderful song! I can see where the lyrics helped you through, they are powerful. The song is awesome and so is the video. The performance is great as usual. Pap is looking down from Heaven and smiling every time you play this song!
I’ve never heard this song before, but I liked it right away. Yes, the lyrics are comforting, and the tune is soothing. When my dad was sick with cancer many years ago, I remember that he read the book of Job and talked about Job’s suffering. Even though we know our loved ones are in a better place, it’s still hard on us.
I very much enjoyed the song. For those of us who never knew Pap, the colorful picture is a wonderful representation of him, sitting and strumming, as it appears, in the very same spot in the kitchen where Paul sang Job’s God.
I’d never heard this before, but really like it. Paul does a wonderful job; his voice really resonates.
I may have previously shared this poem on BlindPigandtheAcorn; if so, maybe folks can either bypass it or read it again. It is from Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s “Through the Bible.”
In The Crucible – author unknown, from discussion on 1Peter4:
Out from the mine and the darkness,
Out from the damp and the mold,
Out from the fiery furnace,
Cometh each grain of gold.
Crushed into atoms and leveled
Down to the humblest dust
With never a heart to pity,
With never a hand to trust.
Molten and hammered and beaten
Seemeth it ne’er to be done.
Oh, for such fiery trial,
What hath the poor gold done?
Oh, ‘twere a mercy to leave it
Down in the damp and the mold.
If this is the glory of living,
Then better to be dross than gold.
Under the press and the roller,
Into the jaws of the mint,
Stamped with the emblem of freedom,
With never a flaw or a dent.
Oh, what a joy, the refining,
Out of the damp and the mold.
And stamped with the glorious image,
Oh, beautiful coin of gold.
I have followed you and Pap for many years now, we all miss him and his great Godly wisdom, I can imagine the hole left in your life. I wanted to let you know how much this posting has touched me, I shared the words to the song and Paul singing, “Job’s God” on face book, because I believe it will touch many people. The wonderful thing about people like “Pap” is that his influence and his true Godly faith will live on and on. It show in all who knew him, knew about him and in your children and family. God is that good. Thank you.
I have not heard that song before but what wonderful lyrics. Your brother did a great job too. We do indeed serve a gracious God!
“Though he slay me, yet I’ll trust him’ is – I think – the heart of the book of Job. That was his statement that Satan had lost. Whether he would keep his trust to the end was the entire issue of the book.
The more experience of life I have, the more valuable that book grows. So far as we are told in it, Job never understood why it happened to him or what it was all about. Job asked ‘Why?’ And for some of us that is what we always want to know in trying to make peace with our circumstances. But there is something higher; finding peace by surrendering the demand to understand why.
I know someone whose son was murdered. She went to the trial. The killer showed no remorse. It almost destroyed her. Yet today she is a living book of Job and is an inspiration to others whose trust is being sorely tried. Her life is a testament that there is grace for the severest trials.
There is a story behind the request to Paul. I would very much think that gentleman has been through the furnace in his life. At its ending, he wants his affirmation to be, ‘I kept my faith.’ Amen.
Thanks for a very touching witness to your faith.
Tipper,
Probably and maybe it is because of the songs stuck in my brain following all the recent ceremonies on television. As I began to read the lyrics to Job’s God, the “rhythmic pace” (cadence) of the song, caused the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic to jump into immediately into my mind!
Funny how that works in poetic rhythm. Not sure that is the right term. I’m old ya know and don’t remember all my old poetic English terminology. ha
Paul did a wonderful rendition of the song. I have never heard the song before but of course read of Job’s trials. I can see how Pap liked this song. You know that I always believe there is a divine plan and that the time was the right time for the song for you and your family to be rediscovered.
Bless you Tipper, I am so glad this song brings you some peace in your heart.
Thanks Tipper,
Oh Tip, that is beautiful and it is Pap through and through!