The following hymn caused me to think of several others, or at least phrases within them. In verse one of “Be Thou My Vision” it concludes “Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.” And of that presence of God I may say, “I Need Thee Every Hour.” Therefore, “Abide With Me” in the evening and night terrors, during the day, and death’s door. The hymn writers put word to our need for God’s presence in our lives for peace and really, sanity.
Some hymns fade and are forgotten for reasons of musicality. They just don’t have a memorable tune or the tune doesn’t go with the tone or meaning of the lyrics. (1) Other hymn lyrics don’t resound with the worshipers’ heart cries. I came across the following old hymn from 1820, by John Keble, that may have slightly stilted language. But as I read musingly, it gave me comfort and conviction. (2)
Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear,
It is not night if Thou be near;
Oh, may no earthborn cloud arise
To hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes.
When the soft dews of kindly sleep
My wearied eyelids gently steep,
Be my last thought, how sweet to rest
Forever on my Savior’s breast.
Abide with me from morn till eve,
For without Thee I cannot live;
Abide with me when night is nigh,
For without Thee I dare not die.
If some poor wand’ring child of Thine
Has spurned today the voice divine,
Now, Lord, the gracious work begin;
Let him no more lie down in sin.
Watch by the sick, enrich the poor
With blessings from Thy boundless store;
Be every mourner’s sleep tonight,
Like infants’ slumbers, pure and right.
Come near and bless us when we wake,
Ere through the world our way we take,
Till in the ocean of Thy love
We lose ourselves in Heav’n above. (4)
I am drawn in to the words by the calling upon God for peace and nearness at all times of day. It gives time of day detail to the plea of the hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour”. It causes me to want to add other verses that call on God’s presence in other daily activities like mealtime and work hours and evening reflection. The third verse requesting God to abide most poignantly reminds me of my need of Him whether to live or to die. I can do neither without Him. Verses four and five feel like the petitioner is pleading with God for the fallen brother in Christ, the sick, poor, and mourner just before retiring for the night. And then he prays for God to bless him in the coming day in verse six. It is a good reflection on our need and desire for God and the protection and peace of His presence.
- In my opinion, the tune commonly used for this hymn, Hursley, is well suited to the ideas conveyed. The only problem is that this long meter (8.8.8.8.) song is used used in another hymn I already knew, and several others besides.
- As I mused upon the effect this hymn had upon me, it caused me to consider what a hymn is for. Comfort, conviction, joy, thanksgiving (3), worship, and review and better recall of truth come to mind. All of these should be encapsulated in worship, but in the list I was thinking of worship in terms of attributing worth to God for His character and works. I think this probably should be a blog entry unto itself.
- Cool! A footnote within a footnote. I learned recently that there is no Hebrew equivalent of thanksgiving. Rather, the translators were interpreting the praise given to God for His benefits as thanking Him.
- Sources for understanding this sacred poem/hymn better:
CreatorWorship 