Salomo Franck (1659-1725) published "Ich halte Gott in allem stille" in 1685, the year of J. S. Bach's birth, in his Geistliche Poesie at Weimar. He gave it the heading "The soul surrenders itself to the divine will." Franck later supplied cantata texts for Bach, and the LSB companion compares his care for theology and literary quality to that of Johann Rist and Georg Neumark. August Crull translated the hymn for The Lutheran Witness on September 21, 1882, under the title "What Pleaseth God, That Pleaseth Me," and revised it for the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book of 1889, which he edited. Every stanza ends with that refrain. The hymn draws on Romans 8:28, on God's plans for His people (Jeremiah 29:11), and on the promise "I have engraved you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:16). It is sung to Neumark's tune for "If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee" (LSB 750), a minor-key melody that Bach, Mendelssohn and Brahms all used.
Sung at Our Saviour
2026