Then Sings My Soul Saturdays

Come Thou Fount

I have posted the words to this hymn before, because they are so powerful. They speak to me on many levels...praise, worship, my own weakness and God's grace and mercy. The verses are in a sequence that parallels our walk with Christ.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
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.

In verse one, my only response to His gracious mercy is to sing with loudest praise! I am fixed on His goodness and mercy, singing with the Hosts of heaven in praise and adoration.

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.

Verse two reveals the story of how Jesus "sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood", and gives me more reason to raise my voice in worship to the King. The words, "Here I raise my Ebenezer" refers to I Samuel 7:12, "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." Ebenezer is the Hebrew for "Stone of Help." Israel had suffered defeat because of its sin. But the people had repented of their sin, God had helped them and they were victorious. Samuel placed the stone to remind Israel that God had them, their victory was because of Him.

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.

Verse three is probably my favorite, because it reveals the frailty of the human spirit. We are fallen....we live in a Genesis 3 world. No matter how strong our faith and love for God, we wander away from Him, but praise God we are bound to Him forever and ever. Our sin is covered by His goodness and mercy.

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.

The final verse speaks to what I long for above all else...to be with Him. One day all the sin and sorrow of this world will be left behind, and I will enter into an eternity of endless day, where God is the light and there is no need of the sun. I will have the joy of singing His praises forever at the foot of the throne!

I can hardly sing this hymn without a catch in my throat. It speaks so deeply to my soul of the things that make up the very fiber of my existence. In spite of my sin and helplessness, my soul longs to praise Him and to be near Him. I know that I wander, but I still yearn to be within the sheltering fold of the Shepherd.

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever;

with my mouth will I make known

Your faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 89:1