Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me (Part Two)

More hard than marble is my heart,
And foul with sins of deepest stain;
But Thou the mighty Savior art,
Nor flowed thy cleansing blood in vain;
Ah soften, melt this rock, and may
Thy blood wash all these stains away!

O that I, as a little child,
May follow Thee, and never rest
Till sweetly Thou hast breathed Thy mild
And lowly mind into my breast!
Nor ever may we parted be,
Till I become as one with Thee.

Still let Thy love point out my way;
How wondrous things Thy love hath wrought!
Still lead me, lest I go astray;
Direct my word, inspire my thought;
And if I fall, soon may I hear
Thy voice, and know that love is near.

In suffering be Thy love my peace,
In weakness be Thy love my power;
And when the storms of life shall cease,
Jesus, in that important hour,
In death as life be Thou my guide,
And save me, who for me hast died.

This week is part two of the hymn – Jesus, Thy boundless love to me.  Unlike most movie sequels, part two is just as good as part one in my opinion. As I mentioned last week, there is so much solid truth found in this song that I wanted to spend adequate time looking at some of the other key lyrics.

• “More hard than marble is my heart” – When I first read this phrase, I thought of Pharaoh in the Old Testament.  Here’s the leader of Egypt living in luxury, maybe even with a marble throne.  But because of the “hardness of his heart,” He wouldn’t listen to Moses.  His heart was so hard that he wouldn’t change after seeing the plagues come.  Even after the loss of his son, and the releasing of the Hebrew children, his heart was still bitter and angry, and full of revenge.  The hymn, however, reminds me that God can, and still does, soften the hearts of men like Pharaoh.  His grace and love can “melt the rock” and cleanse the stains of sin.

• “Till sweetly Thou hast breathed Thy mild and lowly mind into my breast!”  – Often times in Scripture, the Bible uses “wind” or “air” or “breathe” to provide an image of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit moving.  I love the beauty of this line in that I get the image of Jesus breathing His Spirit, His mind, His thoughts, into our hearts and minds.  He does this sweetly and gently, and is constantly working to confirm us into His image.

• “Direct my word, inspire my thought” – The Bible says “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” and it also reminds us “that as a man thinketh, so he is.”  This phrase does a great job of combining those two thoughts.  It is the author’s prayer that God help to control his tongue.  If we spend some time in James Chapter 3, we, too, will find some great wisdom about this subject.  But I also like the prayer to “inspire my thought.”  Even if we can begin to tame our tongue and control it, it is still important to have the Lord fill our minds with His thoughts.  His word.  His inspiration.

The last verse to this song has impacted me recently as two Godly gentlemen that I knew passed away.  One had fought cancer for a long period of time, and one died suddenly and unexpectedly.  Death is a part of life that is inevitable (unless the Lord returns) for all of us.  It is a part of life that is difficult, hard to truly prepare for, and filled with lots of fond memories, and some regrets, for everyone involved.

What I like about the last verse of this hymn, however, is the prayer to Jesus, in that “important hour,” to be the author’s Guide.  In one sense, the author is acknowledging that Jesus has guided him during His life, and I think we can all testify to God’s guiding in our lives.  I know that God was guiding the lives of these two gentlemen I knew.  But the author also recognized that at the end of one’s lifetime, we still need Him in that “important hour.”  We still need Him in that time of fear, even though we know where we are going.  We still need Him to comfort us (and probably more importantly our loved ones) because that time is difficult.  The author closes that stanza remembering that Christ experienced death, and we know that because He conquered death, we will get to share in His resurrection.

I am grateful today that the Lord is leading me in my life, but I am also thankful that He will guide me one day in that “important hour” – from here straight to the Father’s throne in paradise.  What a boundless blessing that truly is!!!