Beneath The Cross of Jesus

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.

O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet,
O trysting place where Heaven’s love and Heaven’s justice meet!
As to the holy patriarch that wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior’s cross to me, a ladder up to heaven.

There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side
The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide
And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save
A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

I love the last two stanzas.

It is quite disappointing that usually in recorded hymns, only the first and the last verse is sung. Hymns like this can’t be really sung with deep conviction without really reading the words, saying Amen to it, and sing it. Most of the times people hate hymns because it sounded boring, repeated for 4 stanzas with the same tune.

They want music that’s closer to their ear, their generation, pop music, rock music. And the words? Don’t make it too difficult, I won’t be able to ‘feel’ it right away. Write about feelings, write about how Jesus loves ME, dies for ME, blessings for ME, or… I love you, all those love song phrases. It’s not that I have anything against those phrases, it’s okay if we’re still in the start of our spiritual journey with God. However as we progress, shouldn’t we praise God with songs containing words portraying our depth of understanding? That Jesus and me, not only Jesus died for me, Jesus loves me, I am so thankful. What’s next? How about our repentance? Like about redeeming love and unworthiness in the 3rd verse?

The wonder of how a love so amazing, can redeem an unworthy soul like us. Shouldn’t understanding of that makes us not take everything for granted, and struggle in our lives to live according to what our status says “in Christ”. What the cross meant to us? What does Jesus’ love to us meant? How should we response?

I remember a few years back I was still attending a Methodist Church in Singapore and I loved the worship part, and fell asleep or zoned out during the sermon part. Imagine the excitement when I heard about a session under the stars, only singing worship songs. Not to mention that singing is really a passion of mine. So it doesn’t matter what I sing, I sing with feelings. Why? because that’s how the words and people around me forced me to be. All feelings but apparently no understandings.

‘I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face’. This has such a deep meaning. Yes, definitely more than “You are my all in all”. Why? because sunshine is such an essential part of every living things in this earth. Sunshine is like our main source of energy in this world. But why I ask no other sunshine, than the sunshine of His face? This is similar to David saying ‘Thy loving kindness is better than life’. Without God’s love, without Jesus’ light on us, our life is practically meaningless. We’re all doomed. So why live life without God’s loving kindness, or Jesus’ face shining on us?

It’s the same in the apostles’ time and even now. How Good Friday isn’t much celebrated compared to Easter or … Christmas. Christians do not want to see the suffering Jesus, they wanna see the triumphant Jesus. The apostles were expecting Messiah who would be rebuilding the physical kingdom on earth and be their physical king. It’s hard to understand why the Cross is our glory. The hymn author wrote ‘My sinful self my shame, my glory all the cross. ‘. Know where our position is. Knowing our unworthiness, knowing that nothing in this life we can be proud of because nothing we have doesn’t come from Him. To be proud, instead, of the cross. Of who we are, what our status is, knowing that it i through the Cross that we accept all those.

Thanks be to God.

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