Now when the King at table sits,
My spiknard smelleth sweet,
And myrrh and camphire from my store
I pour upon His feet.
My thankful love must be displayed,
He loved and wooed a beggar maid.
Ye daughters of Jerusalem,
I'm black to look upon
As goatskin tents; but also as
The tent of Solomon.
Without, I bear the marks of sin,
But Love's adorning is within.
Despise me not that I am black,
The sun hath burned my face,
My mother's children hated me,
And drove me from my place.
In their vineyards I toiled and wept.
But mine own vineyard have not kept.
I am not fair save to the King,
Though fair my royal dress,
His kingly grace is lavished on
My need and worthlessness.
My blemishes He will not see
But loves the beauty that shall be.
Hinds Feet on High Places - Hannah Hurnard
My spiknard smelleth sweet,
And myrrh and camphire from my store
I pour upon His feet.
My thankful love must be displayed,
He loved and wooed a beggar maid.
Ye daughters of Jerusalem,
I'm black to look upon
As goatskin tents; but also as
The tent of Solomon.
Without, I bear the marks of sin,
But Love's adorning is within.
Despise me not that I am black,
The sun hath burned my face,
My mother's children hated me,
And drove me from my place.
In their vineyards I toiled and wept.
But mine own vineyard have not kept.
I am not fair save to the King,
Though fair my royal dress,
His kingly grace is lavished on
My need and worthlessness.
My blemishes He will not see
But loves the beauty that shall be.
Hinds Feet on High Places - Hannah Hurnard
Is there anything more beautiful?!?!
Yes, I was black without and within...made so by sin and still I bear in my body the marks of that sin...the kind with the capital S....ugly and commanding in every way...driving me to toil on its behalf...forcing me to work harder and harder in a battle I could never win.....
Then He came....
He poured out His grace on me...yes me...He pierced my heart with His love, dressed me in fine linen and invited me to His table and though I may appear the same on the outside to the casual passerby....
Nothing is the same....
8 comments:
very big thoughts on that! I mean that it's giving me thoughts and making me "imagine" the scene.
How hard it is to comprehend with our human nature sometimes, isn't it?
Great post! Happy Friday!
good thoughts for the day before a weekend...i'll have time to ponder it and maybe pull my copy of "Hind's Feet" off the shelf. Thanks, you are such a blessing to me!!!!
yes . . . beautiful :)
...He loves the beauty that will be...a work in progress --all of us. No matter how often I ponder God's wondrous love and grace and His ability to look beyond my sin, I am always amazed.
Thanks for the post --oh, and the book - Hinds Feet... one of my favorites!
His amazing grace and love.
You always leave me with something to "chew" on for the weekend :)... BTW, I take my camera EVERYWHERE!!! I will share the sunset shots in a day or two that I got when we left the course and went 7 miles down the road to the beach....and I confess....I placed that ball in the tree with my hand not my golf shot :)
I LOVE the last two lines:
"My blemishes He will not see
But loves the beauty that shall be".
Who in this world would not see our blemishes but instead the beauty that shall be...only God. The thought of it makes me teary.
Beautiful..thank you!
Ah, but how that draws down deep into the well of who I/we are. Through the veil we see Him and we see each other, but He sees without the veil and finds us beautiful. Thanks for those words, and yes, Hannah Hurnard and Hinds Feet were formative in my Christianity and continue to speak . . .
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