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No One Understands Like Jesus

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Words: John Willard Peterson (b. Nov. 1, 1921; d. Sept. 20, 2006)
Music: John Willard Peterson

Note: Over a long career Peterson wrote over a thousand hymns, both words and music, and several dozen musicals and cantatas.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

It’s rude. It’s hurtful. To retort, “Who cares?” in response to what others are saying is to show how small we are, how out of touch with the needs and feelings of another human being. To say, “Who cares?” is to demolish a bridge of hope and trust that may never be rebuilt.

Caring about (and for) others is a significant aspect of social interaction. It’s a part of what makes life meaningful and fulfilling. Many have written perceptively about it. One said, “The simple act of caring is heroic.” Another, “Only those who care about you can hear you when you’re quiet.” And still another, “The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.”

Even so, the opposite of caring can often be seen. A craving for personal advantage and advancement can swallow up concern for others. A couple of examples come to mind from Scripture.

One is Ahithophel, a close friend an advisor of King David. He is likely the one David had in mind when he described, “a man like me, my close friend in whom I confided. We would share personal thoughts with each other; in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd” (Ps. 55:13-14, NET).

But when the king’s son Absalom led a rebellion against his father, Ahithophel quickly deserted his long-time friend and joined the ill-considered uprising. No wonder David grieved, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41:9).

Judas Iscariot in the New Testament was one of the twelve followers of Christ, those who walked and talked with Jesus for about three years, and who were specially trained for future ministry. But Judas turned against his Master, secretly plotting to betray him for a payment of thirty pieces of silver. The Lord knew all about it, and applied to Judas David’s sorrowing words about Ahithophel, seeing in them a further fulfilment (Jn. 13:18, 26; cf. Ps. 41:9).

Who cares? Ahithophel didn’t, when he thought more of his own advancement and personal power than of his friend the king. And Judas didn’t care enough to remain loyal to his Lord. Later, he was so desperately remorseful over what he’d done that, like Ahithophel, he “went and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5; cf. II Sam. 17:23).

How wonderful that the care and compassion of the Lord for us is more enduring than that! In the same psalm in which David expresses pain over the unfaithfulness of his friend, he urges us, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (Ps. 55:22). And Peter, who witnessed the perfidy of Judas, echoed his words: “Casting all your care [anxiety] upon Him, for He cares [is deeply concerned] for you” (I Pet. 5:7).

Hymn writer John Peterson learned to do that during a difficult time. He wrote of an occasion, years ago, when he was working for an unnamed Christian organization. A supervisory position opened up, and his superiors said he would be promoted to it. Peterson was pleased at the advancement, and believed he could handle the job.

However, without notice or explanation, a man was brought in from outside the company and given the position. The caustic remarks of the new man toward Peterson further pained him. Discouragement gripped him. He felt alone and forsaken, and was tempted to become bitter, until he began thinking about the great compassion of the Lord. Who cares? He does!

It was those thoughts that led to the writing of a hymn.

1. No one understands like Jesus
He’s a Friend beyond compare;
Meet Him at the throne of mercy,
He is waiting for you there.

No one understands like Jesus,
When the days are dark and grim;
No one is so near, so dear as Jesus,
Cast your ev’ry care on Him.

3. No one understands like Jesus,
When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged,
Jesus cares and will not fail.

Questions:

  1. Did you ever have a time when you felt betrayed by a friend?
  2. What did you do about this?

Links:

Jesus Lives, and So Shall I

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Words: Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (b. July 4, 1715; d. Dec. 13, 1769)
Music: Lindisfarne, by John Bacchus Dykes (b. March 10, 1823; d. Jan. 22, 1876)

Note: Christian Gellert was a German university professor. Something of his story is found in the Wordwise link below. This resurrection hymn was written in German in 1751. When he was told in December of 1769 that he was likely to die in an hour, he lifted up his hands with a cheerful look, and exclaimed, “Now, God be praised, only an hour!”

There have been a number of quite different English translations of the words. This has led to several different tunes being used, as one had to be chosen to fit the particular text. The translation found in the Cyber Hymnal is by Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812-1897). It begins:

Jesus lives! no longer now
Can thy terrors, death, appall us.

There is another version by Philip Schaff (1819-1893). Still another, the first displayed on the title page by Hymnary.org, is by John Dunmore Lang (completed in 1826). It is the one I’ve used here.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Follow the Leader is a children’s game that has been around for at least a couple of centuries– though it was called Follow My Leader at first. A leader is chosen, and the others line up behind. They must go wherever the leader does, and do what he (or she) does, or be out of the game.

The general principle of following the lead of another has been applied to marching, and dancing, as well as to symphony orchestras. It also provides an analogy to what happens in politics or religion. A leader emerges, being selected by a group. The selection is usually based on various predetermined criteria: the past history of the individual, his evident training and ability, a sheer force of personality, and more.

In the political arena, procedures are established for nominating candidates and voting on them. Sometimes the selection produces widespread satisfaction, and the majority follow their captain enthusiastically. Other times the leader fails to live up to expectations. In extreme cases the one appointed is shown to be incompetent, or even dishonest. He loses his following, and is either voted out of office or impeached. Charged with offenses disqualifying him from the position, he is duly dismissed.

In church ministry, similar things can happen, either with regard to one who heads a para-church organization, a church denomination, or one who provides leadership over a local congregation. Leaders are chosen based on their compatibility with the doctrinal position and policies of the group, their understanding of what the job entails, and some ability demonstrated in earlier experience.

Christlike character is also an area of great importance for Christian leaders. Paul told the Corinthian believers, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (I Cor. 11:1). Or we might say, follow me to the extent that I follow my Leader. Sadly, there have been instances of sinful behaviour that have resulted, not only in dismissal of the individual, but in a shadow being cast upon the whole group, a circumstance that can hinder their ministry for some time to come.

The incarnate Son of God was (and is) a Leader beyond all others, and frequently, during the years of His earthly ministry, He issued a call to individuals to, “Follow Me” (e.g. Matt. 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 16:24; 19:21). It was a summons to discipleship, to learn from Him things needed for their future ministry, after He ascended back into heaven. But it is another application of following Him that we look at here.

The Lord Jesus referred to this, just prior to His crucifixion, but the disciples misunderstood. He said to them, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward” (Jn. 13:36). The Lord had spoken of His coming betrayal (Jn. 13:21), and His followers were aware of the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders. They thought perhaps He was going into hiding, but He was speaking of His ascension, His return to the Father’s right hand, after His resurrection from the dead (Lk. 24:50-53).

The Bible teaches that because Christ rose from the dead He has provided the means for all who believe on Him to be victorious over death. “Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits [the first of many] of those who have fallen asleep [i.e. in death]” (I Cor. 15:20). It is in light of this that Jesus was able to say, “Because I live, you will live also” (Jn. 14:19).

Based on the latter text, Christian Gellert has given us a fine hymn.

1. Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

5. Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian’s Trust.

Questions:

  1. What are some of the reasons Christ had to rise again?
  2. What is your favourite resurrection or Easter hymn?

Links:

A Sinner Made Whole

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Words: William McPherson Lighthall (b. _____, 1865; d. Apr. 26, 1949)
Music: Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (b. Aug. 18, 1856; d. Sept. 15, 1932)

Note: Born in Quebec, Canada, Lightall eventually moved to the United States. For more than thirty years, he worked as a station agent and telegrapher for the railroad. He was active in his church, served as a member of the local school board, also working with the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavour, and the YMCA. He wrote a number of gospel songs.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Sometimes it’s said of a spry senior citizen that he’s “hale and hearty.” To say the man is hearty is to say he’s lively and energetic, even in old age. But hale is a hold-over from the word hāl in Old English many centuries ago. It’s the way they used to say the word “whole,” meaning (in this case) sound in body, unimpaired by disability. To be hale and hearty is to be both physically healthy and vigorous.

We all aspire to that, as the years add up But it’s often not the case. Movement for many becomes restricted and painful with age, and debilitating illness visits and stays longer. Not to belabour a discouraging point beyond what’s necessary here, the insurance companies that speak of the “golden years” of a retirement, full of activity and travel, are speaking of something some will never experience.

In the Bible, wholeness is used several times in connection with the miracles of Christ. His divine authority and power over disease brought that outcome. People marveled that “the maimed [were] made whole” (Matt. 15:31). Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, and it was “restored as whole as the other” (Mk. 3:5). A woman with a chronic hemorrhage was made “well” (Mk. 5:34, translating the same Greek word). Later, Peter said, when another lame man was healed, that he was made “whole” on the authority of Jesus Christ (Acts. 4:10).

There is another use of the term in God’s Word, in connection with our speech. Orthodoxy and soundness of doctrinal teaching is referred to as “wholesome words” (I Tim. 6:3), and Proverbs states that “a wholesome tongue [healthy speech] is a tree of life” (Prov. 15:4). (How we may wish that a certain American politician guarded his tongue a little better, and spoke with more wholesome words!)

The actual word “whole” is not used in our English Bibles to describe spiritual well being, but the thought is certainly there. Scripture says, “You are complete in Him [meaning in Christ]” (Col. 2:10). In Him, our spiritual standing before God is perfected, since we are credited with the righteousness of Christ (II Cor.5:21). And in Christ our spiritual needs for daily living are met to the full as well. “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (II Pet. 1:3). By these things, we are able to live out in practical experience what the Lord has done for us.

One becomes a Christian through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:26). “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). We are “accepted [and enriched] in the Beloved [God’s beloved Son]” (Eph. 1:6). It is as though we have been clothed in Christ, dressed in robes of His righteousness, and what is seen by the Father, when He looks at us, is Christ. Our legal standing in the books of heaven is a settled thing. And the Spirit of God begins to build in us the character of Christ (Gal. 5:22-23), and equips us to serve the Lord through His Word (II Tim. 3:16-17).

In Christ, there is wholeness, both as to our standing before God and, progressively as to our spiritual state! That’s the subject of this hymn by William Lighthall.

(1) There’s a song in my heart that my lips cannot sing,
’Tis praise in the highest to Jesus my King;
Its music each moment is thrilling my soul,
For I was a sinner, but Christ made me whole.

A sinner made whole! A sinner made whole!
The Saviour has bought me and ransomed my soul!
My heart is now singing; the anthem is ringing,
For I was a sinner, but Christ made me whole.

(2) I shall stand one day faultless and pure by His throne,
Transformed from my image, conformed to His own;
Then I shall find words for the song of my soul,
For I was a sinner, but Christ made me whole.

Questions:

  1. What are some of the things included in being spiritually “whole”?
  2. How will these things look to others observing our lives?

Links:

Jesus, the Son of God

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Words: Garfield Thomas Haywood (b. July 15, 1880; d. Apr. 12, 1931)
Music: Garfield Thomas Haywood

Note: This hymn is also called O Sweet Wonder, using a phrase from the chorus. I can recall singing it with a men’s choir, many years ago. For us, it was a worshipful song, sung with quiet reverence. Some versions I’ve heard online are loud, frantic, and frenetic. To me, anyway, that just doesn’t seem to fit the mood of awed wonderment.

Garfield Haywood, lived most of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana, and served there as a pastor for many years. But it some point there was a split in his denomination over the doctrine of the Trinity. Haywood sided with those who took the unorthodox view that there is no such thing. That God can be the Father, the Son or the Spirit, changing Himself into one or the other, as the need requires–a view called modalism.

The modalists have a problem with the baptism of Jesus, where all three Persons of the Trinity are involved (Matt. 3:13-17). And when the Lord Jesus prays to His heavenly Father (Jn. 17:1ff) He’s not talking to Himself! All three Persons of the Triune Godhead were involved in creation (Gen. 1:1-2; Job 26:13; Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17). The Scriptures declare that there is one God (Deut. 6:4; Jas. 2:19), but He eternally exists in three co-equal Persons, each with a unique role in the Godhead (e.g. Matt. 10:32; 28:18-19; II Cor. 13:14; Eph. 2:18; I Pet. 2:1; I Jn. 2:1).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

They are familiar words: sweet, and wonder. Some form of one or both is common in our daily speech. Sweet is either how we like our coffee (or not), or it’s used of something dear or precious to us. A wonder, in everyday use, is something marvelous and exciting.

Both words are found many times in our hymns. There is How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (John Newton, 1779), and Sweet Hour of Prayer (William Walford, 1845). Then we have Great God of Wonders (Samuel Davies, 1769)–not to mention other forms of that word in I Will Sing the Wondrous Story (Francis Rowley, 1886), and Wonderful Grace of Jesus (Haldor Lillenas, 1918).

But around 1914, Garfield Haywood produced a gospel song entitled Jesus, the Son of God. Ten times in the repeated refrains, it refers to Jesus Christ as a “sweet Wonder,” a striking and unusual phrase. Though the words have been used together to advertise cake, and baby care equipment, as far as I’m aware, this sacred song is the only one, in thousands of them, in which those words are put together to describe the Lord.

Before we look at Garfield’s words, consider what we have in Scripture. The word “sweet” is used over one hundred times in the Bible. When not speaking of what is sweet to the taste, it’s describing something that is pleasing, delightful or thrilling in varying degrees. Thus we have, for example, sweet meditation (Ps. 104:34); sweet sleep (Prov. 3:24); sweet friends and friendship (Prov. 27:9; Ps. 55:14); and sweet words (Prov. 16:24; Ps. 141:6), with a particular application to the Word of God (Ps. 119:103).

As to wonders, three words in the New Testament are associated with the supernatural works of God. Acts 2:22 says of the Lord Jesus that He was “approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.” Miracles translates the Greek word dunamis, meaning powers, because they are a demonstration of the power of God. (We get our word dynamite from it.) They are also signs, in the sense that they are signposts pointing to Christ’s identity, and to the authenticity and trustworthiness of His message.

Finally, wonders is a word found in the Bible nearly one hundred times. Christ’s miracles are called wonders, as they were events beyond the full understanding of His observers, and they awakened awe and reverence toward the Lord. The word is also used of the plagues God poured out on the land of Egypt, when Pharaoh refused to let the enslaved Israelites depart (Acts 7:36), and it’s used of the supernatural works of God through Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:12).

Even though Pastor Haywood seems to have taken the erroneous modalist position, I believe he is right about Christ in his song. He continued to believe in the deity of Christ, whom the book of Titus refers to as “our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13). Haywood’s song says:

(1) Do you know Jesus,
Our Lord, our Saviour,
Jesus the Son of God?
Have you ever seen Him,
Or shared of His favour?
Jesus the Son of God.

O sweet Wonder! O sweet Wonder!
Jesus the Son of God;
How I adore Thee! O how I love Thee!
Jesus the Son of God.

(5) Then some day from heaven,
On clouds of bright glory,
Jesus the Son of God
Will come for His jewels,
Most precious and holy,
Jesus the Son of God.

Questions:

  1. What can you think of, concerning the Lord Jesus, that fits the description “sweet Wonder”?
  2. What other hymns do you know that exalt Christ using memorable imagery and picture language?

Links:

Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

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Words: a 14th Century Bohemian Latin carol (Surrexit Christus Hodie)
Music: Llanfair, by Robert Williams (b. Oct. 27, 1782; d. July 5, 1818)

Note: This was originally a Latin hymn from the fourteenth century called Surrexit Christus Hodie (meaning literally “Risen Christ Today”). It was first translated into English in 1708, and with a number of changes and additions it became the fine resurrection hymn, Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, Alleluia (not to be confused with Charles Wesley’s great hymn, Christ the Lord Is Risen Today). In 1749, John Arnold in the Compleat Psalmist took the first stanza of the original, and added two more that weren’t tied to the Latin version at all. The doxology which ends the version in the Cyber Hymnal was added by Charles Wesley.

“Alleluia,” repeated sixteen times in the hymn, is the Greek form of Hallelujah, an exclamation and shout of joy, in Hebrew it’s Halal (praise) Jah (a shortened form of Jehovah or Yahweh). It translates the frequent Old Testament phrase, “Praise the Lord!” (e.g. Ps. 106:1).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

A small house fire can usually be managed and put out with a fire extinguisher. But a spreading fire in a building, one that’s beyond easy control, can quickly imperil lives. It poses multiple hazards, not only from the flames, but from the suffocating smoke, and sometimes from explosions, poisonous chemicals in the air, or falling debris. When such a fire is detected, it’s time to get out!

Hospitals, schools, offices, and other public buildings that have many rooms and corridors, usually have an escape route mapped out and posted on the wall in various places. Sometimes there are also fire escapes, steel steps down the outside of the building. Many facilities have regular fire drills so the exit procedure can be practiced.

One of the most tragic fires in American history occurred in 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in New York City. (A shirtwaist is a woman’s tailored dress shirt or blouse.) One hundred and forty-six people died. Mostly women, Jewish immigrants as young as fourteen, working long hours for a pittance. Some were killed by the fire, others by smoke inhalation, and still others by attempting to jump from windows to the ground, eight to ten floors below.

The deadliest industrial fire in the city’s history, the restored building, now a part of New York University, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. The reason for the structure’s notoriety goes beyond the tragedy of the many deaths. It concerns the reason why it happened. Employers had locked the workers in!

Workers’ rights never seem to have been considered. Owners wanted to prevent employees from taking unauthorized breaks, or slipping out with shirts or material they’d stolen. The folly and thoughtless cruelty of this, and the tragedy that followed led to the enacting of new laws and safety standards that continue to benefit workers today, far and wide, with better worker conditions, and proper exit provisions in time of emergencies.

But there’s another kind of exit we need to look at, an even more famous one: the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave. Mentioned prophetically a few times in the Old Testament (e.g. Isa. 53:10; Ps. 16:10, cf. Acts 2:22-28), it becomes a major theme of the New Testament. Our eternal salvation depends upon it. The Bible is emphatic about that. “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (I Cor. 15:17).

“Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). He thus paid the debt we owe God, so that we, through faith in His sacrifice, might receive the gift of eternal life (Jn. 3:16). But if He’d stayed dead and buried it would mean He was an ordinary mortal, and no divine Saviour at all. His “exit” from the grave was necessary. And He was “declared [and proved] to be the Son of God with power…by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

As Man, He died. But as God the Son He had power over death. He said, “I have power to lay it [My life] down, and I have power to take it again” (Jn. 10:18). After His ascension back into heaven, Christ presented Himself to John, early in the book of Revelation, in His glorified state, saying, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades [the realm of the dead] and of Death” (Rev. 1:18).

The present hymn provides another way to rejoice in our wonderful Saviour’s victory–a victory we share, by faith in Him.

(1) Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia!

(2) Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save, Alleluia!

Questions:

  1. Why is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus so important to us?
  2. What is your favourite Easter hymn?

Links:

Safe Am I

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Words: Mildred Leightner Dillon (b. Jan. 29, 1912; d. Sept. 2, 2007)
Music: Mildred Leightner Dillon

Note: In 1937, Bill and Mildred Dillon had already been involved in fruitful service for the Lord. Both wrote choruses and gospel songs. Mildred was a gifted pianist, and Bill, specializing in band instruments, taught music at Wheaton College for a couple of years. Then something happened that almost ended Mildred’s life.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Terrorism is a term that has entered our common vocabulary, being in the news day after day. It’s not a new word,however, but comes from the French word terrorisme, used in the French Revolution (1789-1799).

That historical time provided the venue for Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities, where he describes it as “the season of Light…the season of Darkness…the spring of hope…the winter of despair.” Especially during two years known as the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), 300,000 supposed enemies of the Revolution were arrested, and some 40,000 of those were beheaded. The guillotine became the horrific symbol of those days.

Terror is an intense fear or anxiety. But today’s terrorism is not so easy to fit into a brief definition, as there are a number of variables. Perhaps we could say it involves: Criminal acts intended to provoke terror in the public. Behind these is often an ideological aim, the promotion and advancement of an extreme religious or political agenda.

The acts aren’t always aimed at specific individuals or a specific group; they can be indiscriminate. Contrary to the bombing of the US navel base at Pearl Harbour sixty years before, the attacks by terrorists in 2001 happened on this continent. And though they were carried out by Islamic extremists, Moslems, as well as non-Moslems, were among the slain.

It was a watershed event, and has been followed by mass killings in restaurants, malls, schools, airports, theatres, and more. This has fostered the realization by many that no place is safe. While we may not live in constant terror, there is a prevailing sense of unease as a result. What’s next? Who will be  targeted next?

The individuals whose lives are written about in the Bible were no strangers to terror. The word is used there over fifty times. So, did people of faith suffer similar anxieties? And is there no remedy to be found, no place of safety? Yes there is, in the hands of God. Many Scriptures speak of God’s unfailing protection and care. For example, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). And we have this promise:

“I [Jesus] give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:28-29).

Many of our hymns express the same theme. But it is about a little chorus (of less than fifty words) that I write here. These articles focus particularly on the traditional hymns and gospel songs of the church, but I’ve dealt with shorter songs from time to time. This one has a remarkable history.

Mildred Dillon and her husband Bill were gospel musicians, serving the Lord with a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. One night at choir practice, each person in attendance was asked to recite a recently memorized Scripture verse. Mildred, the group’s pianist, forgot hers, and quickly thumbed through her Bible to find another. Her eyes fell on Psalm 91:11, which she personalized in reading it:

“He shall give His angels charge over [me], to keep [me] in all [my] ways.”

That promise was soon put to the test. A powerful storm was picking up outside, rattling the windows of the church. Then, suddenly, a tornado struck the building, including its fifty-foot chimney, and eighteen tons of brick crashed through the roof and fell on Mildred at the piano. It took a dozen men half an hour to free her.

She was rushed to the hospital. Covered with cuts and bruises, her back broken, for a time doctors didn’t expect her to survive, but by God’s grace she did. And it was during her over two months in the hospital in 1937 that Mildred Dillon wrote the words for a chorus. In all, fewer than fifty words long, it begins:

Safe am I, safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand.
Sheltered o’er, sheltered o’er
With His love for evermore.

She had words, but no tune. Then, a year later, she and Bill embarked on the Ile de France for England, engaged to assist, with their music, pastor, evangelist and hymn writer Paul Rader, in a series of meetings. In mid-Atlantic the ship was struck by a violent storm. As the waves pitched the ship, Mildred was knocked down.

Though not injured, she was filled with fear, but the Lord brought peace to her soul as she thought of her experience the previous year, and the verse, Psalm 91:11, and the words she’d composed in the hospital. “I’m still safe in the hollow of Your hand,” she thought. Later she went to a piano on board, and composed the tune.

Over the years since 1938 the Dillons received around fifteen hundred letters, expressing appreciation for the little song, telling of ways it has blessed others. Now, both Bill and Mildred are safe at home with the Lord in heaven.

Questions:

  1. What experience have you had in which you sensed the special protection of the Lord?
  2. Have you been able to turn that experience into a blessing for others in some way?

Links:

Shining for Jesus

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Words: Johnson Oatman, Jr. (b. Apr. 21, 1856; d. Sept. 25, 1922)
Music: John Robson Sweney (b. Dec. 31, 1837; d. Apr. 10, 1899)

Note: There is some discrepancy as to who wrote this song. Oatman published his version in 1895. But Hymnary.org displays a hymn book page from 1902 (of a song version copyrighted in 1899) written by Charles Inglis, coupled with an “Old Melody” harmonized by C. C. Case (Charles Clinton Case). I have no more information on Charles Inglis. The Wordwise almanac link speaks of Inglis as the author, but it seems like his was a reworking of Oatman’s earlier work.

The tune arrangement is only slightly different (using dotted eighths and sixteenth notes several times). The words in the first to stanzas are the same. But then there are changes. Inglis uses Oatman’s third stanza as his second. He skips Oatman’s second stanza altogether, which is a loss, as it talks about the cross. Inglis’s last two stanzas are different, and they do have merit.

3. Shining for Jesus in a world of sin;
Shining for Jesus, bringing lost ones in;
Shining for Jesus, glorifying Him;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

4. Shining for Jesus while He gives me grace;
Shining for Jesus while I run the race;
Shining for Jesus, till I see His face;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Suspended in the blackness of space above our heads, exotic and mysterious, earth’s storied moon has been the subject of speculation down through many centuries.

In AD 79, Greek author Lucian wrote what he called a True History of a war between aliens on the moon and the sun. Dante, in his Divine Comedy, published in 1321, claimed the moon is inhabited by the souls of those who have broken vows during their lifetime. In his 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon, H. G. Wells described a moon inhabited by hostile creatures who capture the men who land among them.

Fantasies all. But we often don’t make good prophets, or even good guessers, when it comes to scientific development. Aerospace engineer, Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) once said, “I’m convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.” It didn’t happen. And though it was an amazing achievement for Apollo 11 to actually reach the moon in 1969, the reality of what was discovered is much less spectacular than human imagination or the conjectures of science fiction suggest.

We watched on television as Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the moon’s surface, with his “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” And we saw what he saw. Endless vistas of barren rock and moon dust. There were no native inhabitants to be found, no animals, no plants, no sign physical life. It’s a dead thing, a pile of ancient rock. And unlike the stars which generate their own light, the moon can only reflect the light of the sun–which is itself a star.

The moon is mentioned many times in the Bible. When it was created it was described as “the lesser light,” when compared to the sun (Gen. 1:16). Nevertheless it’s a glorious sight, on a clear night, to look up and see that shining silvery orb. In a way, it humbles us. “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:3-4).

Not only are human beings created to bring praise and honour to the Lord. It’s the same for the sun moon and stars. “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light!” says the psalmist (Ps. 148:3). They do this not by a conscious choice or spoken words, as we do, but simply by being what God has created them to be, fulfilling the purpose for which the Almighty designed them.

Our Creator sovereignly appointed the sun to mark the days (by sunrise and sunset), and “He appointed the moon for seasons [appointed times]” (Ps. 104:19). The meaning of that is likely this: Israel used a lunar calendar, with months thirty days long. Their annual holy days were scheduled according to the months as defined by the phases of the moon (Lev. 23:4-44).

The nature of the moon has a further spiritual application. Of Christians it is said, “Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). But, like the moon, we do not shine with our own light, for we have none, spiritually. We are to be reflectors of the light of the Son of God, the One who declared, “I am the light of the world” (Jn. 8:12). By God’s grace, we are to “shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life [the message of God’s Word]” (Phil. 2:15-16).

Johnson Oatman published a gospel song about that in 1895. It says:

(1) Shining for Jesus everywhere I go,
Shining for Jesus in this world of woe;
Shining for Jesus, more like Him I grow;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

Shining all the time, shining all the time;
Shining for Jesus, beams of love divine;
Glorifying Him every day and hour;
Shining all the time for Jesus.

(2) Shining for Jesus, for He died for me;
Shining for Jesus, for He set me free;
Shining for Jesus, let the whole world see,
Shining all the time for Jesus.

Questions:

  1. In your view, what things are involved in “shining for Jesus”?
  2. What things can cause our light to be dim?

Links:

The Glory of His Presence

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Words: Oswald Jeffrey Smith (b. Nov. 8, 1889; d. Jan. 25, 1986)
Music: Bentley DeForest Ackley (b. Sept. 27, 1872; d. Sept. 3, 1958)

Note: Over the course of eighty years Oswald Smith preached more than 12,000 sermons in eighty countries, wrote thirty-five books (with translations into 128 languages), as well as 1,200 poems, of which around a hundred have been set to music. While leading his growing Toronto congregation in a program supporting over five hundred missionaries worldwide, Smith was instrumental in challenging others to follow his example.

Concerning the present song, Alfred Ackley (Bentley’s brother, and also a hymn writer–of He Lives! And many more) wrote to Smith:

“I am still humming The Glory of His Presence. No lovelier gospel song has appeared in twenty years. It probes the depths of my being with emotion and holy desire, every time I sing it.”

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Some time ago there lived, down the street from us, a reclusive old man. He wasn’t dangerous; he bothered no one. He simply was rarely seen. When he died, the family invited neighbours to visit the inside of his tiny cottage. There, he had printed line upon line of mathematical calculations relating to molecular theory–all in tiny print, on dozens of huge sheets of paper about three feet by four feet. It was a dazzling display of a brilliant mind at work.

What do you think of when someone is called eccentric. The term comes from the Greek ekkentros, meaning out of centre. It usually refers to one whose lifestyle departs from the usual practice, one who doesn’t follow the conventional pattern of the society around him.

We can set aside mental illness. Believing you’re Napoleon isn’t eccentricity, it’s insanity. And superstition is not necessarily involved–like the hockey player who wears the same socks and underwear, for luck, every time he plays. No, there is likely a rationality to what we’re considering here, a difference of lifestyle that is embraced with sincerity and purpose.

Missionary to India Silas Fox (1893-1982) was like that. Born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, he became known as the White Fox of Andhara, preaching the gospel of grace in India for over half a century, proclaiming Christ with holy boldness and great effectiveness. One tribute in his later years described him as “a man with the heart of a Viking and the simple faith of a child.” But he was indeed a genuine eccentric.

I can recall him preaching in our church, many years ago. During his message, he suddenly donned a turban and sang a song in Telugu–which none of us understood. No explanation was given. At another point, he stopped his message to pray. For this, he asked us all to kneel down. This was not a church where kneeling was a regular thing. There were no kneeling benches in the pews, and we barely had room to do it, but we did. And I believe it was good for us. As a pastor, I’ve done it since, on occasion.

Oswald Smith was a pastor, missionary statesman, and hymn writer. But Dr. Smith had an interesting eccentricity when it came to prayer. In his personal prayer times he customarily prayed out loud, while walking up and down. One time when the Smiths were staying in a hotel, a friend noticed his wife Daisy sitting in the lobby. “What are you doing down here?” he asked. “Oh, Oswald is praying” she replied.

At home, the family was used to accommodating this. One morning, at breakfast time, they could hear him pacing back and forth in the bedroom. But it went on much longer than usual, so they started breakfast. When Oswald finally appeared, with a piece of cardboard in his hand (from a packaged shirt that had been taken to the laundry), his face was wreathed in smiles.

The book of Job speaks of God giving songs in the night (Job 35:10). So does David, in Psalms: “The Lord will send his mercy in the daytime, and in the night his song will be with me” (Ps. 42:8). And missionaries Paul and Silas sang “hymns to God” in a prison cell (Acts 16:25). Oswald Smith had a similar experience that day.

At a time in his ministry which Smith describes with words such as: disappointment, heartache, and despair, he prevailed in prayer with the Lord. God not only lifted his spirits that morning, He gave the pastor such an awareness of His glorious presence he simply had to express it. He read to the family from the piece of cardboard a song he’d just written.

1. I have walked alone with Jesus
In a fellowship divine;
Nevermore can earth allure me,
I am His and He is mine.

I have seen Him, I have known Him,
For He deigns to walk with me;
And the glory of His presence
Will be mine eternally.
O the glory of His presence,
O the beauty of His face;
I am His and His forever,
He has won me by His grace.

3. In my failure, sin, and sorrow,
Broken-hearted, crushed and torn,
I have felt His presence near me,
He has all my burdens borne.

Questions:

  1. Have you ever experienced deep disappointment, discouragement, or painful loss?
  2. What did you do about it? (And did this help?)

Links:

Bread of Heaven

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Words: Josiah Conder (b. Sept. 17, 1789; d. Dec. 27, 1855)
Music: Jesu, Jesu, Du Mein Hirt, by Paul Heinlein (b. Apr. 11, 1626; d. Aug. 6, 1686)

Note: English author, editor and publisher, Josiah Conder wrote this short hymn in 1824, for use at the Lord’s Supper. It consists of one stanza about the bread, and a second about the wine. Heinlein was a church organist over three centuries ago.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Bread is considered the most widely consumed food in the world. It’s close to being a staple, a basic and necessary item, in many cultures. Not only so, it’s versatile, and portable and can be eaten in many places where other foods would be less convenient.

Grinding grains or seeds, combining the resulting meal with other ingredients, and baking the mix, is a process that has been used since the beginning of human history. The Egyptians, centuries before the time of Christ, became expert bread makers, and added yeast to make the airier product we’re familiar with today. A document has been discovered listing fifty-seven kinds of bread, and thirty-eight kinds of cake, made in Pharaoh’s kitchens.

In England, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792) was a hard-working civil servant, and an obsessive gambler. The story goes that, not wanting to leave the card table to eat, he would tell a servant to bring him some salt beef between two slices of bread. Other players, asked if they wanted anything, replied, “The same as Sandwich,” and the “sandwich” was born.

Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling hot sausages in rolls. As to where that got its now familiar name, German immigrants brought not only their sausages to America, but also dachshund dogs. Since the sausages were long and narrow like the dogs, it probably began as a joke to call Feltman’s sandwiches “hot dachshunds,” or “hot dogs.”

The submarine, or sub, originated in Italy. Dominic Conti immigrated to America around 1895, opening a grocery store in New Jersey. There he offered traditional Italian sandwiches, long crusty rolls, filled with cold cuts, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, oil, vinegar, and Italian spices. His granddaughter claimed he named them “submarines,” after seeing one of those long narrow naval vessels in the harbour.

But let’s go way back to the first of over three hundred times bread is mentioned in the Bible. In Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of one forbidden tree, warning that disobedience would bring death (Gen. 2:17). Yet our first parents sinned (Gen. 3:6), and the Lord pronounced a sober judgment.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

Gen. 3:19

Possibly “bread” there means food in general, as it seems to do in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). But in Genesis it does translate the Hebrew word for actual bread.

Long afterward, God miraculously provided manna for the children of Israel to eat during their forty years in the wilderness. The people ground it and baked it into cakes (Num. 11:7-8). It was referred to as “the bread of heaven [i.e. provided by the God of heaven]” (Ps. 78:24).

Centuries later, in response to listeners speaking to the Lord Jesus about the manna (Jn. 6:30-31), He used it as a picture of Himself. “The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world….I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (vs. 33, 35).

The imagery is applied directly to Christ’s broken body on the cross, in the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:26; I Cor. 11:24).

“As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” Or as the Bible in Basic English puts it: “Whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord’s death till he comes” (I Cor. 11:26).

(1) Bread of heav’n, on Thee we feed,
For Thy flesh is meat indeed:
Ever may our souls be fed
With this true and living Bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him who died.

(2) Vine of heav’n, Thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice,
Lord, Thy wounds our healing give,
To Thy cross we look and live:
Jesus, may we ever be
Grafted, rooted, built in Thee.

Questions:

  1. In what way are we “giving witness” to the Lord’s death in this service? What does that mean?
  2. What are your favourite hymns used at the Lord’s Supper (the Communion Service)?

Links:

Sing with All the Saints in Glory

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Words: William Josiah Irons (b. Sept. 12, 1812; d. June 18, 1883)
Music: Hymn of Joy, by Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Dec. ___, 1770; d. March 26, 1827)

Note: The original title was Sing with All the Sons of Glory. Editors have made it more clearly inclusive–even though I personally can abide the generic “sons” representing all human beings. English clergyman William Irons wrote quite a few hymns. This superb one, as the Cyber Hymnal notes, was sung at Ronald Reagan’s funeral.

As to the tune, Beethoven’s Hymn of Joy is fine, but I rather favour Roland Prichard’s wonderful Hyfrydol (to which we also sing Our Great Saviour, and several other hymns). There is no record of Beethoven’s date of birth, but he was baptized on December 17th, and the family later celebrated his birthday on the 16th.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

We use words to describe what we think or feel, or what has happened to us. But what if something is beyond words? Perhaps there are no words in existence that can do the job. Or words seem far too weak to convey how we’re feeling? This can happen with both positive and negative things.

When our son was born, I vividly recall looking through the window of the hospital nursery at the incubator in which that tiny baby lay. There he was, at my first sight of him. “He’s an extension of me,” I thought, “a part of me that’s now independent of me.” I had feelings at the time that I cannot put on paper. Even if I tried, there are no words that can capture the moment.

Elie Wiesel (1828-2016), as a teenage Jewish boy, was taken with his family to a Nazi concentration camp. The horrors they experienced there are also beyond words. Wiesel tried. He wrote a book, in its English edition called simply Night. In it the author vents one long, anguished cry of hopeless despair so heart-wrenching it’s difficult to read. There’s no question the deep, soul-shredding inner pain of those years–pain he suffered to his dying day–is beyond any vocabulary on earth.

When our shock at some terrible experience overpowers us, or we make a discovery that’s overwhelming, or our gratitude for some gift is such that we can’t find words to express appreciation, or we have a transcendent spiritual experience, these things all can be beyond words.

The New Testament uses several terms to convey the idea that God and His ways are beyond our finite intellects to comprehend, and beyond our words to describe.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments [or decrees] and His ways past finding out!

Rom. 11:33

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (II Cor. 9:15)–perhaps speaking both of our salvation and our Saviour. “Though now you do not see Him [Christ], yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (I Pet. 1:8). What we have in and through faith in the Lord is described as “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). And we are to seek to know more of the love of Christ which “passes [or surpasses] knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).

Paul speaks of a man (perhaps himself) who either had a vision of Paradise, or was given the privilege of visiting briefly. There he heard “inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (II Cor. 12:4). J. B. Philips calls them “words that cannot, and indeed must not” be spoken.

The whole subject of heaven, the eternal home of the saints, falls in that category of being beyond words. We are told something about it, especially in the last two chapters of Revelation. But there’s undoubtedly much more that is beyond an earthly vocabulary to describe.

Pastor and hymn writer William Irons gave us a hymn about heaven in 1873. In one hundred and seventy-three words, he describes the scene, heaping phrase upon phrase, in joyous ecstasy. “O what glory, far exceeding all that eye has yet perceived!” he says. “Holiest hearts, for ages pleading, never that full joy conceived.”

In spite of this marvellous hymn, describing heaven remains beyond his skill. Even so, here is part of this wonderful hymn. (I encourage you to go to the Cyber Hymnal link and read it all.)

(1) Sing with all the saints in glory,
Sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story,
To the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking,
Soon the storms of time shall cease;
In God’s likeness we, awaking,
Know the everlasting peace.

(4) Life eternal! O what wonders
Crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
When, amidst earth’s closing thunders,
Saints shall stand before the throne!
O to enter that bright portal,
See that glowing firmament;
Know, with Thee, O God immortal,
Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.

Questions:

  1. What, from William Irons’s description of heaven impresses or blesses you most?
  2. What is your favourite hymn about heaven?

Links:

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