Tag: #oldhymns

A Prayer for Strength

When this hymn was first translated from Welsh to English, the translator aptly titled it “A Prayer for Strength.” This beautiful hymn written by William Williams, which we now know as “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” is indeed a prayer for strength to face our journey through this life.

The imagery is largely taken from the Israelites’ miraculous deliverance from Egypt to the Promised Land, a journey that involved 40 years of wandering through barren lands where they were wholly dependent on God for their daily bread and water. When the day finally came to cross the Jordan River, God delivered them safely to Canaan — as He promised He would.

We all face different challenges as we wander through our individual deserts. No two journeys are the same. Yet, we are on the road together, facing setbacks and hurdling obstacles, sometimes succumbing to sin and other times overcoming it, as we travel through life.

Along the way, God intends for us to rely on Him, our great Jehovah, to provide all our needs; spiritual, emotional and physical. We look to God for daily guidance, daily strength, because we are weak and needy people. Each breath we take is evidence that God is sustaining us.

“He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.” (Isaiah 40:29)

God’s provision often comes through His people, fellow pilgrims who support us along the way. We need each other! While no one has walked our specific path, others have walked parallel paths. Others have overcome. From a place of victory, they can offer us words of hope and encouragement, bind up our spiritual, physical and emotional wounds, and help provide our pressing needs.

“Therefore, encourage and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11)

The day is coming when we will each stand on the brink of death. For those who have their hope wholly in Christ, who understand they can enter God’s kingdom based only on the faith and reliance on God’s grace and Christ’s sin sacrifice on the cross, a peaceful eternity in the presence of our Savior is waiting. God will welcome us to our forever home.

“But according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”  (2 Peter 3:13)

For those apart from Christ, eternal judgement waits.

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)

Is your hope for salvation in Christ alone? As long as the Lord sustains you, as long as you draw breath, you can come to Him with a repentant heart, and surrender to Him as your Savior and Lord, and He will rescue you, in His mercy, from eternal judgement (1 John 1:9). You can join the pilgrim journey to God’s eternal peace.

Like a River Glorious

Photo Copyright: www.godponderings.com

Some days I sense God calling me away to a peaceful place. A place without internet service, cellphone signal or traffic noise. A place with minimal human activity. A place where I can focus on the Word, and prayer, and writing – without distractions. One advantage of living in the boondocks is that such places are readily accessible.

A root beer-toned river twists its way around a low island dotted with sneezeweed, goldenrod, fleabane and wild asters. It gurgles as it rushes downhill, stumbling over rocks and bumping haphazardly into a downed tree before going on its merry way. The river’s voice settles my soul as it carries my cares away.

“Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace.”

Have you ever been in a situation where you discovered, by necessity, God’s perfect peace? Several years ago my cousin and his son were helping us remodel our house. They were truly God’s gift to us! Ben and I were coming home with a load of lumber when the trailer started swaying. At first, I wasn’t overly concerned. But when the trailer started pulling the truck all over the road, in traffic, I knew we were in trouble.

I should have panicked. I should have been terrified. Instead, an inexplicable, supernatural peace washed over me. Ben was doing everything in his power to get the situation under control. I remember putting my hand on his shoulder and saying, “You’re doing a great job!” Where did that come from? The only possible answer is the Sunday School answer: Jesus.

“Over all victorious in its bright increase.”

In the end, we did a 180 across both lanes of traffic and came to rest on the shoulder – unharmed. Praise God, no one else was harmed either. Surely, God’s angels were encamped around us! Kind drivers stopped and helped us pick up the lumber strewn across the road and we were on our way again, at a slower pace.

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever. For in Yahweh, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:3-4)

I lose sight of this promise, at times. My mind is on everything but my Peace-Giver. I’m preoccupied with finances and work and household duties and family. I hit the floor running in the morning without pausing to meditate on God and His marvelous works, without committing my daily concerns to my Lord. When I get frazzled and fretful, God reminds my I have neglected the One who gives perfect peace.

“Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day. Perfect, yet it growth deeper all the way.”

God’s peace is always perfect. It’s never lacking. But the more we put our trust in it, the more we experience it, the deeper and fuller it seems, like a river growing and deepening as it makes its way to the sea.

Whatever has you unsettled today, whatever is eating at you, whatever has you distracted or preoccupied, I pray you will rest in these words from Psalm 46:10;

“Cease striving and know that I am God.”

When you struggle, refocus on the only One who can bring you rest.

“Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest; Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.”

Be Thou My Vision

Photo Copyright: www.godponderings.com

Our little farm is overrun with critters – cute, but destructive, critters.

It started with one or two rabbits that are now eight to ten rabbits. It’s impossible to keep a garden! They eat everything as quickly as it shoots up.

Then there was a ground hog. She blessed us with three babies who liked the neighborhood enough to stick round. Now there are four or five ground hogs in our yard. They have expanded their tunneling efforts from under the barn to under the granary and the machine shed. Plus, I just discovered a new tunnel in the hill outside our house.

Cute or not the critters have to go before they destroy what’s valuable to us – our property.

I love to have fun – to a fault. I have a couple of pass-times that are much like those critters. They started out small and innocent enough. Ways to entertain myself at the end of a busy day. But they have grown into destructive forces in my life. They eat away precious time. I find myself neglecting to

“Redeem the time because the days are evil…” (Ephesians 5:16)

They are now burrowing in during the day. The snippets of time I used to spend in prayer and thoughtful contemplation, I now fill with fun. They distract my mind from eternal things. They compete for pre-eminence in my life. Bottom line? They burrow into my spiritual foundations and undermine what is most valuable to me: my first love.

“But I hold this one thing against you, you have lost your first love.” (Revelation 2:4)

Maybe wasting time isn’t a sinkhole for you, like it is for me. Maybe you get caught up in the pursuit of wealth or possessions. Gaining a fortune and enjoying the fruits of your labor are not inherently bad things (Abraham, for example, was a very godly, very wealthy man) if the Lord still holds first place in your heart.

Do not lay up your treasures on earth…” (Matthew 6:19-20)

Perhaps you seek a certain level of fame or notoriety – as an influencer on social media or a somebody in your own community or sphere of influence. Again, those are not necessarily bad things. But who you are in Christ must remain more valuable than who you are in the eyes of the world.

               “Thou and thou only first in my heart…”

The writer of this very old hymn had an undivided heart, with one desire, and one desire only – for God to be forever and always first in everything. Fun, fortune and fame all took second place to her true inheritance in Christ. Her longing to let nothing distract her, pull her away from the High King of Heaven is clear in her desperate plea to God:

               Be Thou my vision!

This lovely, ancient hymn touches a place deep inside me. Sometimes I think it’s the tune drawing out my Celtic roots, or the passionate lyrics resonating with my inner writer. Mostly, I believe it expresses the plea of my own, often distracted and divided heart better than I ever could:

               “Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision of Ruler of all!”