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.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve 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;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
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.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
I love how genuine this song is...how it talks about our human weakness--we're debtors, doubters, we're bound by this flesh, but he never stops pursuing us and loving us. It made my day to hear this song this morning (I recommend versions by David Crowder or Sufjan Stevens), because it's easy to get down about not being good enough, not loving him enough or praying or being sure of his promise or what have you...
the lines, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love" especially ring true for me. I think I am just naturally a wanderer; whereas some people need structure, closure, belief in one thing that has no gray areas, I usually appreciate the opposite. I flee from black and white, completely solid beliefs and convictions. This can be a strength and a weakness. On one hand, open-mindedness allows me to sympathize with people from a number of different backgrounds, to adapt to change and to be willing to change my own heart in order to become more like Christ....on the other hand, I have trouble accepting one thing as ultimate truth, because I think, "Well, what about people who have had horrible experiences in the church, or who have experienced great tragedy or know God in their own way, but haven't come to know Christ?" These questions are okay to ask, I think, but they also get in the way of me taking the Bible as truth, and being confident in my proclamation of Christ as King. Then I wander. But you know what? He always brings me back, because there is nothing and no one more beautiful and full of grace and mercy. He keeps chasing me, and my times of doubt and wandering grow fewer and farther between. He's changed my life for good, and won't let me forget it. A favorite line of mine from another song is "I won't claim to have found the truth, but I know the truth has found me." Beautiful!
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