Commit your ways

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1. Insights into the life of Paul Gerhardt

He was born on March 12, 1607 in Gräfenhainichen in Saxony. Misery came into his life early. In 1619 his father died, in 1621 the death of his mother. Paul was 14 years old.

• 1622 he lost his homeland. He went to the princely school in Grimma.  
• 1628 he studied theology at the University of Wittenberg.  
• 1649 he was a private tutor in Berlin.  
• 1651 First ordination, he became a pastor in Mittenwalde.  
• 1655 Marriage to Maria Berthold. He was 48 years old - Maria 32 years old.

2. A story tells of difficult days

Not a speck of flour, not a crust of bread was available. His wife asks her husband: Give me a penny so that I can buy the very necessities! The faithful husband comforted her.

In the garden house, he wrote the song: Commit your way.

Commit your ways and what grieves your heart to the most faithful care of the One who directs heaven! He who gives clouds, air, and winds their paths, courses, and tracks will also find ways where your foot can go.  

You must trust the Lord if things are to go well for you; you must look to His work if your work is to succeed! With worries and sorrows and with self-inflicted pain, God lets nothing be taken from Him: it must be prayed for.  

Let Him, Him, act and govern; He is a wise Prince and will conduct Himself in such a way that you will be amazed when He, as He is entitled, with wonderful counsel, carries out the matter that has troubled you.

3. Family Growth and Family Loss

• In 1656, daughter Elisabeth was born – She died in 1657. 1657 – 1666 Paul Gerhardt was pastor at the Nikolaikirche in Berlin.

• In 1666, the Great Elector issues an edict that Paul Gerhardt cannot sign. He loses his position. He was unemployed for three years, no income. Endless hardship. During this time, his three sons die. 
• On March 5, 1668, his dear wife dies after a serious illness.

A prayer:

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! Psalm 40,18 (ESV)

4. How did his life continue?

Their married life lasted only 13 years. It was the time of the Thirty Years' War 1618 – 1648. A time of hardship and deprivation. In 1668, Paul Gerhardt was called to Lübben, a town in the Electorate of Saxony. On May 27, 1676, Paul Gerhardt died. He left behind his 13-year-old son.

One wonders about the secret of Paul Gerhardt, about what was special. He was not otherworldly, but devout. A triad of his life:

Gratitude – Confidence – and Cheerfulness, this runs like a red thread through his songs, that there is a person speaking who has found his support, who knows himself safe in God, no matter how his own life may unfold.

Approximately 130 to 140 church songs come from him. Some are still sung today. The songs are also used as prayers. When one considers the period from 1607 to today, one can only marvel and give thanks. Great is our God.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37,5 (ESV)

Author: Edith Waechter
AI Images 1,2,4+5: https://www.bing.com/images/create/
Image 3: Siegfried Poepperl auf Unsplash