Come, Thou 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.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
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.
Once again, I picked a hymn with some language that is not real common to us today, but nevertheless, has some important thoughts. The first thing I want to comment on is in verse one, where the author is asking the Lord to “tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” Have you ever attended an orchestra concert or gone to a symphony? If you arrive early enough, you will typically have one musician play a note on the piano so that all instruments can be tuned to that note. Once that note is played, every other musician tunes their instrument to that particular note. Can you imagine the chaos of trying to tune dozens of instruments to each other at the same time? This phrase in this hymn reminds us that we should be instruments of God’s grace, however, we must have our hearts tuned to what God is saying to us. If we are tuned into the world, we will respond like the world. If we are tuned into our self, the end result will be selfishness. If, however, we are tuned into God, we will have many opportunities to share and sing His grace.
The second thing I wanted to comment on was three uncommon words that are used in this hymn. Since we don’t use these in our everyday language, I thought I would expand on their meaning:
- Ebenezer – A memorial to God’s Faithfulness – There was a practice in the Old Testament of building memorials to remember what God had done for the Hebrew people. Examples include the 12 stones the Hebrews placed at the Jordan River as a reminder that they crossed the river only with God’s miraculous intervention. Although common in the United States as it relates to wars and the soldiers that fought in them (Vietnam Memorial, World War II memorial, etc.), this is a practice that is not common in the modern Christian church, but I do think it is important to have reminders in our homes and churches of what God has done for us. Maybe you have experienced a financial blessing at some point in your past. You received money unexpectedly for a need and you know that God provided it.. If so, do something in your home to remind you of that event so that when you experience that same kind of hardship again, you can recall what God did for you in the past.
- Interpose – To step in between parties that are at odds – What a reminder of what Christ did for us. The Bible says that “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God took the initiative to reconcile mankind to Himself by “interposing His precious blood.” Because of that “Amazing Grace,” we can do our part and honor Him with our lives.
- Fetter – a chain or shackle – The author uses this word a little differently than it is normally used. Typically, this word has a negative connotation and refers to something that holds us down (sin, worry, etc.). The author is praying that the Lord would “bind his wandering heart” to God with a “fetter” of goodness. Paul refers to himself in Phillipians as a “bondservant” or “slave.” This can sound kind of odd since we believe that God has set us free – free from sin. However, God paid for us with a great price, but rather than abuse that freedom, we should become slaves to Christ, and live as “bondservants” – ready to heed our Master’s call. God’s has clothed us in His righteousness and covers us with His goodness.