Come, Thou Fount of every blessing

Today, I played this hymn on the organ as a processional for a wedding, to the tune Normandy. I was overwhelmed by the sheer force of the wordings:

‘O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be; let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to thee’.

Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure,
Meet for me Thy grace to prove,
While I sing the countless treasure
Of my God’s unchanging love.

This is my absolute favorite song. I sang it at a talent show in February. My performance could have gone better, but ever since then it's always been my song. And I hadn't messed up then I probably wouldn't be this good at playing it on my ukulele. Since I was singing this on my tablet just now, I couldn't see all the words without scrolling down. So the Lord told me to close my eyes, and play and sing it from memory, just like at the talent show. And I did it. Twice. Sure I made a few mistakes but I just kept on going and I had sounded better than I ever had before. So just as a reminder, had things happen for a purpose. God's purpose. This "awful" pandemic is so that we can redeem the time, praise Him and focus on Him. All had things happen for a reason. He will rescue us from sin and danger, He has purchased us by the Savior's blood. And when this is over, we will walk on earth, a stranger, as a son and their of God.

The lyrics are not same as in The United Methodist Hymnal.

In his youth, Robert Robinson was apprenticed to a barber in London and lived a wild and reckless life. But one day he heard a sermon by George Whitefield on the stern words of John the Baptist to the Jewish leaders of his day, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ” (Matt. 3:7). The Spirit of God convicted the wayward young man and he put his faith in Christ.

Associated with the Wesleys for a time, Robinson served as a pastor in several churches. He wrote a number of works on theology, and two hymns that we know of, Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee, and Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The latter hymn begins:

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

The song is autobiographical in its confession of a proneness to wander away from the Lord. Though a man of intellectual brilliance, Robert Robinson was, in the words of Scripture, “unstable as water” (Gen. 49:4). In his later years he drifted away from God. This weakness is reflected in a later stanza of the hymn above:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

In a spiritually backslidden condition, the author was traveling in a stage coach one day. His only companion was a young woman unknown to him. In the providence of God, and not realizing who it was she spoke with, the woman quoted Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, saying what an encouragement it had been to her. And try as he might, Robinson could not get her to change the subject.

Finally, he said, with tears in his eyes, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who composed that hymn, many years ago. And I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I then had! ” Gently, she replied, “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing. ” He was deeply touched by that. As a result of the encounter he repented. His fellowship with the Lord was restored through the ministry of his own hymn, and a Christian’s willing witness.

Source: wordwisehymns

I praise God for this and other old hymns. Though I enjoy modern hymns, when I am burdened it is the words from the old hymns that comfort best and send my spirit flying back in the heavenly realms. This morning I was repenting for myself and my country in how we squandered God’s Grace and Mercy. We had financial prosperity but deep spiritual impoverishment. For myself, though I love God and seek to be a fully devoted follower of Christ, I still manage to sin against God and my fellow man, offending Him and sullying my Holy God’s reputation before an unholy culture that desperately needs to see His True Character. As I was journaling that confession the words of this hymn came to mind: “Oh to Grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be. Let Your Grace, Lord, like a fetter bind my wand’ring heart to Thee” became my prayer. Thank you, God, for the great hymn writers, old and new!

Thank God for this and other inspiring hymns.

The soundtrack drew my attention to it, same soundtrack as the Baptist hymn 'Ka to sun Olugbala wa... '

One question always come to my mind and that is, The hymn writers contributed to the spiritual growth of the Church of God and are remembered with fond memories, what am I doing to the Church of God and how will I be remembered?

Acknowledging that God is good, that He helps me and speaks to my heart. Acknowledging that He loves me and I have experienced His love for me-

All means that He is real, that I need Him, that I am accountable, answerable to Him.

Yet why would I still want to be like a sheep, going my own way, why would I want to be so stubborn still?

The words to this hymn came to me as I asked myself those questions.

Yes Lord, You Have taken my heart and sealed it with Your Spirit. The rest of me is learning that You are SO trustworthy that even my stubbornness can melt in Your love.

Janet Amen! Literally had a teacher send a video of himself sharing what God was speaking to Him, talking about how the coronavirus is calling us to depend on Him. God sends tribulation to keep our eyes fixed on Him so we won’t try and be independent. We are like the sheep who are prone to wander, and He is our Great Shepherd. In the Hebrew in Psalms 23 the Rod and Staff were sticks used for protection, support, and discipline. It’s a beautiful picture of how God is using this to strengthen our faith and to show that He is present here with us through His Holy Spirit, and that this period may sting but that He loves us enough to stay awake to the reality that we need Him!

Coronavirus is raging all over the world… We just bought some laying hens..... Sitting in the fenced in area with the chickens, the label on the new chicken waterer said FOUNT. What a crazy way to bring this whole song to mind and I am listening to the words like I never have before. But the words in the melody are stuck in my head from childhood. Praise Jesus for hymns of old with words that meant so much when they were written and mean so much even today!