O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

I wanted to do a short series where we reflect on the stories and lyrics behind certain hymns. In order to get the most out of this series, it is recommended that you 1) read the lyrics while listening to the song, 2) read the Story, Thoughts, and Reflection parts of the post, and then 3) read and listen the song once more.

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.

O Light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

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.

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.

Story

George Matheson (1842-1906) suffered poor eyesight from birth. At age 15, Matheson learned that he was going blind. He had an incurable condition that would eventually result in total blindness and there was nothing that could be done to help him. However, Matheson was not one to be easily discouraged, he enrolled in the University of Glasgow and graduated at age 19. Whilst at University, he had met and fallen in love with a girl who was a fellow student and they were planning to get married.

He broke the news of his impending blindness to her. To his astonishment and deep sadness her blunt answer came to him like a dagger to his heart, “I do not want to be the wife of a blind man” she said – and with that they parted.

Years later the memory of that repudiation came flooding back on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. His whole family had went to the wedding and had left him alone. And he writes during his immense anguish. In the darkness of that moment George Matheson wrote this hymn. He remarked afterward that it took him five minutes and that it was the only hymn he ever wrote that required no editing.

Each of the four stanzas begins with a key word—Love, Light, Joy and Cross—that are not only attributes to our relationship with Christ, but also names we give to Christ.

The Cross is the theme of the concluding stanza. Through Christ’s suffering on the cross “blossoms red”. Love, Light, and Joy that comes out of sacrifice—the sacrificial life which blossoms by shedding itself.

Thoughts

In modern English, the word “hope” means “to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence” or “that events will turn out for the best”. In other words, optimism. Does that mean hope and optimism are the same thing? Is hope as simple as having a specific kind of mindset? In our world of Teslas, retirement plans, and Trump, modern people (and Christians) no longer remember how to speak of ‘hope’. More precisely, we have lost the language of articulating what ‘hope’ is.

Hope has become simply a wish for a positive outcome in some future event in our modern language. But if hope is wishful thinking, it might easily be misconstrued as some kind of optimistic defense mechanism in response to the human condition. That is, hope acknowledges the significant obstacles and deep pitfalls of life because hope has no delusions of the present reality. While the ideas of hope and optimism share similar characteristics, only hope can bear the weight of the despair and desperation.

There was period in my life where despair and death were two friends I welcomed expectantly. In such a short amount of time, people I loved were passing away due to cancer, lifestyle choices, and unexpectant circumstances. I had no time to finish processing each person’s passing because death knocked again and again. Thus, I ended up struggling to process the death of my grandmother, uncle, cousin, and a close friend at the same time. It would be easy to write that I had some sort of hope in the midst of all this, but in truth I was in a great deal of despair. At the time, hope was hard for me to grasp onto. It was only by going back to the story of the resurrection I found hope once again.

The resurrection (or more specifically New Creation) paints a picture of our ultimate aim or goal as Christians (telos). As the Apostle John writes,

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

This is a beautiful picture, however, there is a danger of seeing New Creation as an overly optimistic worldview. That is to say, it can be a slippery slope (at least for me it can be!) to see the resurrection AND New Creation as an attempt to turn our eyes away from the despair and suffering we see in world (and in our lives) and say “it will be made right”.

Therefore, the Christian life is not about ignoring despair through wishful thinking or seeing our lives as an one act story. It is about being present in despair and point to an expectation in the midst of that despair. This is essentially our faith: holding both hope and despair together.

Reflection

Take 30 seconds to 1 minute to reflect on what you read and your thoughts. After you finish reflecting, go back to Step 1 and listen to the song once more.