January 11, 2014.

“O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy grace, Lord, 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, Lord, take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.”

This is the third verse of what has become one of my favorite hymns- Come, Thou Fount. I love this hymn so much because this third verse hits the nail on the head when it comes to describing my daily life. When I sing it, I cannot help to get goosebumps over how true the words are.

“Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be.” Wow. We all have struggles in our everyday life, and the hymn writer, Robert Robinson, knows it. I am reminded of the call of our Lord:

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his crossdaily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
(Luke 9:22-24)

We have to be mindful daily of our service to the great King. This includes, for me at least, acknowledging that I fall in some area most every day. But, even though I fall, as I am able to rise again because of the wonderful grace that has been so freely given from our Lord. It is this knowledge that drives the second line: “Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter bind my wondering heart to thee.” Amen.

Perhaps my favorite line of the whole song, however, is the one that comes next. “Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” It almost hurts how true that is. I know that I love my Lord, I believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and have enrolled myself in his service. Yet, will all of that, I still am prone to wonder. This struggle is not unique to me however. Even the Apostle Paul had this struggle.

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
(Rom. 7:21-25)

Paul was human, just like all of us. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I believe the last line in the verse sums it all up very well. “Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above” All praise be to the Lord above who has shed his blood that we may be saved from the destruction that inevitably awaits fallen mankind.

Suggested Daily Reading: Psalm 51, Ephesians 4-6

If you have never heard this hymn, or you would just like to listen to it, click here to hear the Christian Student Center students sing it. The Lord be gracious unto you.

-Walter