LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO

 

Thursday, June 22, 2023

 

LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO

 

Jude 2

2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

   

Jude 21

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

 

          One of my favorite hymns is O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO and, as with most things, there is a back story to the lyrics.

 

          George Matheson was only fifteen when he was told that he was losing what little eyesight he had. Instead of giving up, Matheson immediately continued with his plans to enroll in the University of Glasgow, and his determination led to his graduation at age nineteen. But as he pursued graduate studies in theology for Christian ministry, he finally lost his sight. His sisters joined ranks beside him, learning Greek and Hebrew to assist him in his studies. He pressed faithfully on.

 

          But his spirit collapsed when his fiancée, unwilling to be married to a blind man, broke their engagement, and returned his ring. He never married, and the pain of that rejection never totally left him. Years later, as a well-loved preacher in Scotland, his sister came to him announcing her engagement. He rejoiced with her, but his mind went back to his own heartache. He consoled himself in thinking of God’s love which is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn, and never uncertain. Out of this experience he wrote the hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.

 

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go | George Matheson

 

1.    O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

2.    O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

3.    O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

4.    O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

 

Thank you, Lord, for your unchanging and unfailing love. AMEN