Wednesday, December 22, 2010

GUIDE ME O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH

One of the great problem in the church today is music…hymns…the younger generation does not care for hymns at all, just “praise music.” Personally, I prefer traditional hymns but I don’t mind the older chorus’ such as “Isn’t He, Jesus, Name Above All Names,” etc. A nice mixture can really enhance a worship service.

I recently received an early Christmas gift for my Kindle from my son Bill, a devotional entitled Amazing Grace, 366 Hymn Stories. As I began looking thru it I thought perhaps there are other bloggers interested in background to these hymns, so here goes.

This great hymn was written in the 18th century, in Wales. A young man named William Williams was preparing to go to medical school. He came across an itinerant preacher, Howell Harris holding evangelistic services, attended and came to Christ. One of the attractions to the services was gospel singing by the congregation. He decided to also dedicate his life to preaching the Gospel, traveled one hundred thousand miles over forty three years on horseback, preaching and singing. He wrote and sang in Welsh so that the listeners could learn the songs. He earned the title, “sweet singer of Wales.”

His inspiration for this particular hymn came from the record of the Israelites travels in the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan. Throughout all the 40 years of wandering God provided all they needed, food in the form of manna…fresh every day. Water as they needed it, their shoes never wore out and they followed a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was always there…guiding!

Is this God of the Israelites the same God we worship today? Of course He is, problem for us is we don’t get to know him so that we can trust and wait for Him to supply our needs. We are very use to meeting our own needs by whatever means possible, sometimes without even consulting Him. It had taken me the better part of 30 years to learn some of the lessons of trusting and waiting…try it, you’ll like it!

1 comment:

  1. Greetings from Wordwise Hymns. I share your concern that many churches today seem to be abandoning the great hymns of the faith. There are some lovely contemporary choruses, but they don't have the depth of doctrine and devotion of many of our hymns.

    As to William Williams's great hymn, I posted a blog on it myself, this morning. I invite you to check it out. And let's keep encouraging our churches not to lose sight of our great heritage in hymnody. God bless.

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