On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (I am Bound for the Promised Land)

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
and cast a wishful eye
to Canaan’s fair and happy land,
where my possessions lie.

Chorus:
I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land;
Oh, who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land.

O’er all those wide extended plains
shines one eternal day;
there God the Son forever reigns,
and scatters night away.

No chilling winds or poisonous breath
can reach that healthful shore;
sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
are felt and feared no more.

When I shall reach that happy place,
I’ll be forever blest,
for I shall see my Father’s face,
and in his bosom rest.

Written from the perspective of standing on the edge of the wilderness and gazing across the Jordan river, this song is about anticipation, determination, and invitation.  The author writes about the longing to go to a better place.  To leave the dry, barren desert and go to a place where milk and honey flow.  To leave this earth with all it’s trials and tribulations, and go to the Promised land.  But it is also a song about knowing where you are going.  It is song about having a destination and a made up mind to make it to that destination.  The author writes that he is bound for the Promised land.  He knows where he is going and he is determined to get there.  And finally, it is a song of invitation.  “Oh, who will come and go with me?”  Who will accept Jesus and follow Him to Heaven?  Who will leave this world of trouble and trials and go to the Promised land?

I hope you can sing songs about Heaven and that you have a desire to go there.  I also prayer that you have a made-up mind and that you are determined to tell others where you are going.  We are bound for the Promised Land.

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• Scatters night away – I found this phrasing to be really interesting.  Typically, one who scatters is taking a large group of things, for example seed, and then throwing it or flinging it out across the field or across the ground.  It typically is the process of taking a handful of small things, and making them even smaller by scattering them.  In this line, the author is telling us that God takes night and scatters it away.  He is telling us that God takes something dark, all-encompassing, and enduring and He scatters it away.  His light is so bright that when He enters into a dark situation, the night is scattered like the seed.  I like this imagery because it reminds me how wonderful our God is.  Jesus said “I am the light of the world.”  He can enter our dark and painful circumstances and scatter them away.

• Sickness, sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more – The phrase that jumped out at me here was the paring of “felt” and “feared” no more.  Isn’t it true that sickness, sorrow, pain and death can be experienced directly, but can also be feared in advance of?  Death is one of those things in life that are inevitable (unless the Lord returns) and that we often times fear what is going to happen long before it happens.  The same can be true for sickness in our lives.  The fear of certain sickness can be almost as painful as the actual illness.  But, I am grateful today that there is a place where sickness, sorrow, pain and death have no influence directly or indirectly.  John tells us in Revelation 21, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

There was a popular kids movie out several years ago entitled “Homeward Bound.”  It is a story about three animals that think they have been left by their owners and who journey through the mountains and wilderness to make it back home.  The movie is good, and the voices they chose for the animals were perfect.  The names of the three animals in that movie remind me of how we sometimes live our journey on this earth.  The cat in the movie is named “Sassy.”  Like this cat, people can have “sassy” attitudes toward the Lord and to others.  They can go through life with a sharp-tongue or ungrateful attitude.  They are unfortunately rebellious and sassy.  Or they are like the young dog in this movie – “Chance.”  They go through this life thinking that “chance” is what helps them or hurts them.  They aren’t trusting in the Lord, but trusting in the flip of a coin.  They don’t believe God has a plan for their life.  They are just living by chance.  Finally, there are those going through life in the “Shadow.”  Not the living behind the scenes or where no one can see them.  But those living in the shadow of the Cross.  Letting the power and glory of the Cross influence their walk and their talk.  Letting the shadow of the Cross go before them and shine all around them.   That is how I want to live this life.  Living it with anticipation, determination, and invitation, and living in the Shadow of the Cross.