Friday, August 04, 2006

LIF

One morn­ing it came into my mind as I went to la­bour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gra­cious Ex­per­i­ence of a Christ­ian.’ As I went up Hol­born I had the chor­us,
‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.’
In the day I had four first vers­es com­plete, and wrote them off. On the Sab­bath fol­low­ing I met bro­ther King as I came out of Lisle Street Meet­ing…who in­formed me that his wife was ve­ry ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an ear­ly tea, and called af­ter­wards. He said that it was his usu­al custom to sing a hymn, read a por­tion, and en­gage in pray­er, be­fore he went to meet­ing. He looked for his hymn-book but could find it no­where. I said, ‘I have some vers­es in my pock­et; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did, and his wife en­joyed them so much, that af­ter ser­vice he asked me, as a fa­vour, to leave a co­py of them for his wife. I went home, and by the fire­side com­posed the last two vers­es, wrote the whole off, and took them to sis­ter King…As these vers­es so met the dy­ing wo­man’s case, my at­ten­tion to them was the more ar­rest­ed, and I had a thou­sand print­ed for dis­tr­ibu­tion. I sent one to the Spir­it­u­al Mag­a­zine, with­out my ini­tials, which ap­peared some time af­ter this. Bro­ther Rees, of Crown Street, So­ho, brought out an edi­tion of hymns [1836], and this hymn was in it.


Edward Mote
Let­ter to the Gos­pel Her­ald


MY HOPE IS BUILT

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.


His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.


Been singing this for the last couple of days...Do songs ever just come to you?...they do to me...I haven't been in a church meeting where this was being sung...I certainly haven't heard it on the radio.....my hubby did mention a line of this hymn to me a few weeks ago in reference to a loved one standing in a storm....maybe that's where it came from...or more likely, the Holy Spirit within resounds with what I need to hear at this moment in time.....I can't say...but there it is...surfacing into my consciousness at random moments...I find myself thinking on the chorus...humming the tune under my breath at work...praying the verses...reminding myself, encouraging myself....

My Hope is in Christ alone...
Whatever may come, He is the Rock on which I stand,.... and when I can't stand, His Life supports me....
He never changes and His love and grace never change....His view of me never changes
I stand faultless and blameless before His throne....

These are things I need to be reminded of often...don't you?

11 comments:

Pat said...

That great old song often comes to mind and brings me great peace. You never hear it in church or on the radio, which is a true test of it's greatness...it's still in your soul. Thanks for reminding me of those precious words, even if I can't remember all the verses, all I need to remember is "on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand"! Music truly soothes the soul and this type of music also brings great peace. Beautiful post, thank you!

Mrs. Mac said...

Thanks for sharing that beautiful hymn about HIM! And happy belated bd to Jada.

Bek said...

love this song!!! my brother and his wife just had it at their wedding, as a worship song to be sung during the service by the congregation. it was beautiful. its such a powerful tune.

Lilibet said...

Thank you for your kind words, I do appreciate it. It helps to hear that I am not *alone* in the struggle with pain, that there are many people, such as your husband, who experience it.

Jada is gorgeous, isn't she!

Tammy said...

Absolutely! Love that hymn...we sing it in church once in a while...and right now for me it's a perfect hymn...He is my solid rock and I'm so glad that I have Him to stand on.

dille2@cableone.net said...

We sing so many new hymns that the old ones are a treat. Been singing the Wonderful Grace of Jesus this week - have it on my IPod. Thanks for the reminder...zalaine

Curious Servant said...

That is a good one, and the story is wonderful.

Thanks JG!

An Ordinary Christian said...

I just had me a worship session with the Lord here in my gym spin class thanks to that song running around your head. Oh, so beautiful! I'll have 2 go find that on Napster and listen again and again as I melt into Christ -Oh to be found in Him alone, fully attoned for and to be accepted in the Beloved, and to be loved just as I am anyway!

Ame said...

Yes ... Very beautiful ... I often get songs reverberating in my heart and soul for lenghty periods of time :)

Kimber said...

That is one of my favs - Hope that one gets stuck in my head and I sing it for days too!

Anonymous said...

beautiful lyrics. Christ is the solid rock... so true.