Hymns for Motherhood – Come Thou Fount
I hope this series has been an encouragement to you. Hymns remind me of my growing up years. I remember taking piano lessons and when I was around nine years old I was able to learn to play hymns. I loved it. I felt so humbled and blessed to learn the songs that saints have been singing for hundreds of years.
The words in this last hymn were written in 1758. Can words that were penned over 250 years ago still ring true today? As we walk through this Christian life, all we really want are blessings. We seek them out and sometimes expect them. When the hard things come, do we miss the blessings? Do we see that every day we have glimpses of grace and blessings, not matter the valley we are walking through? Do we see that our walk with God is not about all that we are going to get, its about what He has given us already?
Come Thy Fount, of Every Blessing
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.
Blessings of grace, streams of mercy, redeeming love – His daily grace and unending love never waver. We can praise Him, just as the angels do!
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer*(see note below);
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
A heavenly inheritance, a stone of help, and a reminder that this earth is not our home. Our spirit sorrow, for others and for ourselves, but we will always have pain and suffering while here on earth. We can have hope because this is not the end.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
Blessings of a Shepherd. He seeks us, rescues us, pursues us, all with kindness and redemption. We can know that His blood never loses its power, no matter how far we stray.
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.
Blessings of grace that we can never repay. Always wondering, never too far for His hand. Even with all of our proneness to wonder, He loves us back – takes our hearts – and seals them for heaven. Nothing can separate is from His love.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
Blessings of a promise that will include His face. A promise that includes a washing of all of our sin. A promise of an unending song of praise for His sovereign grace. A promise that grace will never, ever run dry….
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.
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I love this version, by Sara Groves
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*A special note about the the “Ebenezer” – which means “stone of help” – from HouseToHouse (Bible Questions):
Robinson {author of this hymn} chose the phrase, Here I raise my Ebenezer, from 1 Samuel 7:12, because it reminds God’s people how He he delivered Israel from danger.
Chapters 4 through 7 of 1 Samuel describe a series of battles between the Israelites and the Philistines. In an attempt to defeat the Philistines, the Israelites took the ark of the covenant into battle as a sort of good luck charm. To their anguish, however, the Philistines captured the ark and took it back to their pagan temple. God then sent plagues upon the Philistines and caused the idol of their god Dagon to fall over on its face. Fearing God, the Philistines sent the ark back to the Israelites, but continued to fight. As they fought more battles, the prophet Samuel led the Israelites as their last judge. As prophet and judge, Samuel offered sacrifices to God, so that when the Philistines approached, God thundered with a great thunder (1 Samuel 7:10). In the confusion that followed, the Israelites soundly defeated the Philistines. As a reminder of the great victory God gave to Israel, Samuel took a great stone and raised it as a memorial between Mizpeh and Shen. As he raised it he called the name of it Ebenezer [or stone of help], saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (1 Samuel 7:12).
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I love the old hymns too, Sarah. I never realized the connection about that line, ‘raise my Ebenezer.’ What an awesome statement! When something written so long ago still applies to our lives today, we truly know it was God-inspired. Thank you for this closer look at a wonderful message!
Thank you Kristine. I had never heard of the connection either until I was researching this beautiful hymn. Thank you for reading!