O to Be Like Thee
I just had a spiritual revival camp in the first half of this week. “Christ Lordship” is the theme. Wondering too much how to put Christ as my Lord in every aspect of my life, I realized that I can only do that by striving to be like Him in all aspects of my life.
O to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.O to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
This hymn reminds me the qualities in Jesus Christ that we have to strive to be like. Of course they are not only limited by these, but this list of qualities alone are very difficult to carry out :
To forfeit worldly treasures, to be pure, full of compassion, loving, forgiving, tender, kind, helping, cheering, seeking sinners, lowly in spirit, holy and harmless, patient and brave, enduring reproaches, willing to suffer.
Some say that being like Christ is just too impossible to do. He’s perfect, we are not, He’s God, we are limited and weak human beings. This becomes an excuse not to work hard at it. But we should always remember that He became human, with all the weakness and limitedness like us but He lived a perfect life.
I guess prayer is the key. Ask from God the Father, ask Him to come to us, and stamp His image in our heart, pour out His spirit and fill us with His love, make us His dwelling place and make us fit for His kingdom.
Meaningful indeed.
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
I am always amazed by how God has blessed Fanny Crosby. This hymn proves once again how He has led her to be a blessing to many. I would like to start with the story behind this hymn in which I couldn’t stop marveling at Crosby’s talent:
On April 30, 1868, musician William H. Doane appeared at Fanny’s apartment in Manhattan, saying “I have exactly forty minutes before I must meet a train for Cincinnati. I have a tune for you. See if it says anything to you. Perhaps you can commit it to memory and then compose a poem to match it.” He then hummed the tune to her.
Well, this is what I like about Crosby. She had such vivid imagination and overflowing talent in writing to couple with, she then clapped her hands and said, “Why, that says, ‘Safe in the arms of Jesus!’“. She retreated to the other room of her tiny apartment, knelt on the floor, and asked God to give her the words. Within half an hour, she had composed the poem in her mind and dictated it to Doane, who dashed off to catch his train.
Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast,
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels, borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care,
Safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears;
Only a few more trials, only a few more tears!Jesus, my heart’s dear Refuge, Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of Ages, ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience, wait till the night is over;
Wait till I see the morning break on the golden shore.
I like the tune to the refrain part. In “There by His love o’ershaded“, the notes climbs and reaches a high note D, and as I sing, I can feel like I’m really singing about His overwhelming love, and soon after, it declines note by note, “sweetly” to a long “resting” G, which to me sounds like a “safe” note 
Now I know another thing to do when nightmares disturb me. Sing this hymn, praise the Lord instead :p
Still, still with Thee
Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee.
Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,
The solemn hush of nature newly born;
Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.
Still, still with Thee, as to each newborn morning,
A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,
So does this blessèd consciousness, awaking,
Breathe each day nearness unto Thee and Heaven.
So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,
When the soul waketh and life’s shadows flee;
O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,
Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
Harriet B. Stowe, the author of this hymn, rose each morning at 4:30 to meet with her Lord before the day began. She enjoyed watching the sunrise, listening to the birds, and sensing the all-encompassing presence of God. She was meditating on Psalm 139:17-18, one day, and was inspired to write this beautiful piece of hymn.
“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”
From the hymns we can sense that Stowe was in awe of the beautiful sunrise, the melodious chirping of birds but more than all those wonderful revelation of God, she was even more in awe of the sweet consciousness that she is still with God.
Isn’t it just wonderful, to wake up every morning, knowing that our Beloved is with us and we are still with Him?
Not to mention the soothing piece of music composed by Felix Mendelssohn, one of the greatest German composer, pianist and conductor, which suits the lyrics very much, with a soft but beautiful start and an assuring climax towards the end.
Thank you, Lord, for Your works in these people. Thanks for reminding me that I am still with Thee.
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
This hymn is like a prayer, that the Holy Spirit may flood into our hearts with His streams of mercy, enabling us to sing God’s praises and remain faithful to Him.
I particularly like the last stanza. For me, at least, I am struggling with keeping my eyes fixed on Him, holding on to His promises, putting my whole trust in Him. Sometimes we realize we human being are just too limited and too corrupted, too weak to be worth all the troubles that our God has gone through. One moment we praise the Lord, another moment we complain and sigh for all the troubles we went through. Let this be our personal prayers :
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
We are weak, O God. Our hearts are prone to wander from You, prone to abandon the God we love. We are nothing without Your mercy, nothing without Your grace. Have mercy upon us. Take our hearts and seal them for Your works for we are Yours.
2 Peter 3:9 :
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
