While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
History
The Church of England made this hymn a staple shortly after Nahum Tate wrote it around the year 1700. It’s significant for the church because it was the first and only Christmas carol sanctioned by the church for many years—the Anglicans had only previously sanctioned psalmody.
Psalmody is the practice of singing or chanting the Psalms, with as little alteration to the original text as possible. In the early days of the church, believers would often sing or chant the Psalms as their mode of worship. The early church used no instruments for centuries until after the Protestant Reformation when Lutheran churches in Germany began experimenting with organs and other instruments.
Many of the more conservative Protestant sects held that Psalmody was the only Biblical way to worship. This began to shift in the 1700s as the psalters were updated and new ideas were promoted.
The significance of this hymn is rooted in its place as the only song sanctioned outside of the Psalter for corporate worship. At its core, the hymn is essentially Scripture set to meter. This strict adherence to the Scriptural narrative of Jesus’ birth likely accounts for some of its usage within the church at a time when hymns and carols were strictly prohibited.
Devotion
Do you ever feel too unusable or unskilled for God to even notice you, much less have a purpose for you? Maybe the circumstances of your life have crippled your self-confidence, or maybe you’re just not sure how your talents and abilities can be used to reach the nations for the Gospel.
Can I encourage you with something? God created you for a purpose. He created you with your gifts, talents, and abilities with a purpose and a mission that only you can fulfill.
Imagine if God was working a puzzle with billions of pieces—He has made each piece unique, and each has a very particular spot in the puzzle that only one piece can fit into. God has made you to fit the exact place He has for you, don’t talk yourself out of how important you are.
In Luke 2, God used shepherds to announce the birth of His Son—the most important birth the world has ever seen. Can you imagine? There they were, watching their sheep on the night shift, maybe even trying to help keep each other awake, when all of a sudden the sky rips open and an angel appears before them. Their mission was simple: tell people about it.
Do you remember what happened next? People were amazed at their words. They marveled. They didn’t ask what qualifications the shepherds may have had or question them because their skill sets didn’t meet expectations.
The power of the Gospel is that it moves people with supernatural grace, and sometimes we get the blessing of being the vessel.
God doesn’t make useless people. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
God has designed all of us to walk in the good works of Christ and has created us to do that in a specific way. It may look different for all of us, but we’re set aside for a purpose and to do good works in Jesus’ name.
Maybe you’re starting to feel the pressures as the end of the year approaches and you didn’t finish the goals you planned.
Or maybe it’s another year gone by and you don’t feel like you’ve made an impact for the Kingdom at all. It’s never too late to start.
You may not have gotten to every goal you planned, but there’s still time to do something that matters. Find what you’re good at and what you love to do and do it for the Gospel. Or you can always be like the shepherds and tell people that Jesus has come.
Related Scripture
Luke 2:8-14, Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 2:19-22
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night Lyrics
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
“Fear not!” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
“To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign:
“The heav’nly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”
Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God on high,
Who thus addressed their song:
“All glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heav’n to men
Begin and never cease!”