One of my projects for the indeterminate future is to memorize more hymns and Bible verses. I find it calming to recite ones I know in moments of stress, unfortunately I don't have that much memorized so it's a lot of the same thing over and over.
One of my favorite hymns, and one that I have at least part of memorized, is "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The two following verses are the ones I have memorized (from cyberhymnal.org (warning: plays music):
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
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.
I like this hymn for two reasons: first, it highlights the fact that my main purpose in life is not to be successful, particularly, but to praise God. It's comforting to know that no matter how much I might snarl up other aspects of my life, I'll always be as free as I ever was to pursue the main purpose of my existence, the only one I'll be continuing long after all my earthly pursuits are over.
Second, it implies that praise is not something I can do by myself. The ability to praise God is a gift from God. I must be taught to sing God's praise, and I must continually be brought back by God when I stray away. And it's not God's just punishment or just discipline that brings me back or binds me to Him--it's HIs goodness alone. We all think of God as a judge, which He is, but we find it hard to think of perfect justice and perfect mercy co-existing in the same person, because that's not the way it works with us. So many times I've been so much harder on myself than God would be on me. Without excusing myself for my own sin, I have to remember that it's God's desire to pour out mercy and goodness on me, and not judgement. Christ makes that possible.
My ability to praise God indicates that I've already been gifted by Him. My ability to praise Him in difficult times doesn't reflect my shining character, but rather testifies to the fact that God is still with me no matter how things might seem. If I'm properly attuned to what God wants for me, praising God will be my chief comfort in bad times and will keep me from being distracted by trivialities during good times.
Posted by michele at June 28, 2007 10:30 PM