She can see her Savior now - Fanny Crosby

Many of you know that I have a special fondness for the old hymns and gospel songs. Yesterday's study reminded me of a very old song, and of the special woman who wrote it.
Fanny Crosby wrote over 8,000 hymns and songs, and in her lifetime (1820-1915), was one of the best-known women in the United States.  She was blinded by an incompetent doctor at the age of six weeks, but in later years she said this about her blindness:

It seemed in­tend­ed by the bless­ed prov­i­dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis­pen­sa­tion. If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things around me.

Are these hymns familiar to you? Blessed Assurance, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, and many, many more. She could not see the earthly things around her, but her hymns have led many to the Lord.

Here is her hymn, "Never Lose the Golden Rule" . . .

Never lose the golden rule,
Keep it still in view;
Do to others as you would
They should do to you.
Kindly, gently,
In their burden bear a part,
Meekly chiding
With a loving heart.

Never lose the golden rule,
Keep it still in view;
Do to others as you would
They should do to you.

Help the feeble ones along,
Cheer the faint and weak;
To the sorrow-laden heart
Words of comfort speak.
Freely, freely,
From the bounty of your store,
Cheerful givers,
Help the humbler poor.

Love the Lord, the first command,
With thy soul and mind;
Love thy neighbor as thyself,
Both in one combined.
Justly, justly,
With each other strive to live,
Ever ready,
Willing to forgive.

Have a pleasant weekend, and a blessed and restful Sunday.

I've been kinda tough on you this week.....

I think today we might need a respite; we could use a time of meditation. You know that I love the old hymns -- the rich theology contained in them helps us grow in Christ.

Take a moment to listen to this version of "Jesus, I my Cross have Taken" and let the words indwell you. I hope it is meaningful to you.  Have a blessed weekend, my friends.

Proverbs 12:7 Remember This Old Hymn?

Today's verse brought this old hymn to mind:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand....
All other ground is sinking sand.

I touched on this truth already this week, but in this world we live in today, it is something that I find encouraging to revisit. Solomon tells us that the triumph, the exaltation, the apparent getting-away-with-it-all of the wicked, is short-lived. It lasts only a little time. Remember when we were in chapter ten of Proverbs? Turn back with me to verse 25 --- As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.  (Ya gotta forgive the "passeth" and "thee" and "thou" in my notes . . . I'm partial to the King James!)  I've heard it said that a whirlwind in the desert can come upon a traveler very quickly, but it can be gone just as quickly.  It has changed the landscape a little, but really left no permanent mark.

By contrast, the righteous are portrayed as having a strong foundation; that even though death may remove us, we can have made a permanent change in the world, and in those who live in it. Our house shall stand. Our families can have a much different outcome than those who continue in sin and wickedness. I like how the tail end of Psalm 112:2 puts it: . . . the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

Isn't it wonderful how much is packed into the old hymns? Read the rest of this one:

When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.

I know that sometimes I write in a humorous fashion, and I try to do things that will get your attention and direct it toward a thought or principle . . . but I am sincere about what I write, and I hope that it helps some of us. I know that the last verse there is my hope, as well --- to be found in Him, and stand before the throne, faultless because of what Christ did for us all.