I Will Praise Him

When I saw the cleansing fountain
Open wide for all my sin,
I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing,
When He said, “Wilt thou be clean?”

Chorus
I will praise Him! I will praise Him!
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory, all ye people,
For His blood can wash away each stain.

Though the way seems straight and narrow,
All I claimed was swept away;
My ambitions, plans and wishes,
At my feet in ashes lay.

Then God’s fire upon the altar
Of my heart was set aflame;
I shall never cease to praise Him
Glory, glory to His Name!

Blessèd be the Name of Jesus!
I’m so glad He took me in;
He’s forgiven my transgressions,
He has cleansed my heart from sin.

Glory, glory to the Father!
Glory, glory to the Son!
Glory, glory to the Spirit!
Glory to the Three in One!

Written in 1898 by Mrs. Margaret J. Harris, this hymn provides a declarative statement of praise – “I will praise Him.”  This statement of praise is not based upon the weather outside.  This declaration of praise is not based upon one’s circumstances.  It is based upon the powerful truth that Jesus’ blood can wash away the stain of sin from our lives.  He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and for that reason, if no other reason, He deserves our heartfelt praise.

If you aren’t familiar with this song, here’s a great a cappella version by the Isaac’s.

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• “I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing” – I thought the word “wooing” was interesting here.  Wooing is an old word that is not used much anymore and typically is used in referring to the act of winning someone’s affection.  Dictionary.com has a couple of great definitions of wooing:

• “To seek to win” – Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  The Holy Spirit seeks to win unbelievers to Christ.  That is the Spirit’s purpose.  His desire is to win someone from the Kingdom of darkness and bring that person into the Kingdom of light.

• “To invite” – Jesus told a Parable in Matthew 22 about a Wedding Banquet.  Listen to His words in verses 8-10 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’  So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”  The Holy Spirit is in the invitation business.  Inviting the bad and the good.  Inviting anyone He can find.

• “Then God’s fire upon the altar of my heart was set aflame” – This particular phraseology reminded me of Elijah and the Prophets of Baal.  After Elijah mocked the prophets for a little bit, he poured water on the altar and drenched it.  The Bible says in I Kings 18:38 “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ”  You see when the fire of God falls on the altar of your heart, it is all-consuming.  The wood, the stones, the dust, and yes, even the water.  The author testifies that when she encountered Christ, her heart was set ablaze.  What a picture of a passionate love for the Lord and the change that comes into a life changed by the Lord!

• “I’m so glad He took me in” – When I read this phrase, I thought about taking in a homeless person or a displaced family member.  These situations can be tough.  They come at inconvenient times.  Taking someone in will typically cost you more and last longer than you plan.  But isn’t that what Jesus did for us?  He took us in.  Homeless, displaced, lives wrecked by sin, and He took us in.  It wasn’t just for a night or a week.  Even after we accepted His forgiveness, He had a lot of cleaning up to do.  It took time.  It cost Him everything.  But He did it anyway.  That thought makes me want to praise Him even more.

Finally, there’s one more thing that I find interesting about this song that almost seems contradictory.  If you read the chorus of this song, it seems like the focus is entirely on Jesus – “I will Praise Him.  Praise the Lamb for sinner’s slain.”  I am not discounting at all the pre-eminence of Christ and the work on the Cross, but sometimes our hymns and our worship songs tend to focus on one person of the Trinity, usually Jesus or God the Father.  But the last verse of this song, in my opinion, communicates an important message and an important doctrine.  The doctrine of the Trinity.  You see, we can and should praise the Father.  We can and should praise the Son.  But we also can and should praise the Spirit.  Glory, Glory to the Three in One!!!