Sometimes a hymn can speak to you, almost as if from heaven. Such a hymn is “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.” It has haunted, yet calmed me over the years. I even wrote music for it. It is inspired and worthy to gently meditate:
Oh Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
Oh Light, that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross, that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust’s life glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
George Matheson (1842-1906) suffered poor eyesight from birth, and at age 15 learned he was going blind. Not easily discouraged, he enrolled in the University of Glasgow and graduated at age 19. He then began theological studies, during which he became totally blind.
On the day that one of his sisters was married, Matheson wrote this hymn. He recorded this account of that experience in his journal:
“My hymn was composed . . . on the evening of June 6, 1882. I was at that time alone. It was the day of my sister’s marriage . . . Something had happened to me which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice then of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high. I have never been able to gain once more the same fervor in verse.”
“Oh Love, that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.” Let these humble words of quiet surrender to the ever-present, ever-faithful love of God, work their wonder in your heart.
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