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
Here I raise my ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I've come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
Oh 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 Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above.
This hymn holds a lot of meaning for me. My family always sings hymns in the morning before school, and there was a point in time when April, my sister, would pick this hymn every single morning. I thought it was a very annoying song at one time, now I can't get enough of it. Through this song, I learned how to deeply and truly worship.
Worship is a highly misunderstood concept nowadays. I have met several people who believe worship is getting the chills, or breaking down in tears, or feeling the urge to raise one's hands. All these things are fine, I'm not condemning holy hands, or the contriteness of tears, but these should not be your worship. They are merely results of worship. They are feelings, hormones, endorphins. They are the body's response to the atmosphere (the dim lighting, the type of music, the mood of people around you).
What is true worship then? Worship is recognizing and paying homage to someone higher than yourself. Worshiping God is finding a truth and applying it, thanking God for that truth, praising Him for it. Let's practise:
Come Thou fount of every blessing
Can you see a truth in that? What comes to my mind is that God is the source of every single blessing, good or bad. He's a fountain, His blessings are never-ending. He blesses us daily, even with the little things we ignore, like food on the table, travel mercies, an over-abundance of clothes... etc. Let's praise Him and worship Him for that!
Here's my favorite line:
Let They goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Have any of you ever stopped at this line and thought about what fetters are? They're handcuffs! Chains to bind a prisoner. The writer of this song loves the Lord utterly, but is distressed at how often he strays from the Lord. He knows the Lord is his source of life and blessings, the Lord is the One who brought him thus far, but his heart is prone to wander. The writer cries out "Chain me to you Lord! I don't want to leave you again. I can't stay by my own will power, You have to do it for me." This is what I earnestly pray, that I may not be allowed to stray from the Lord, but that he would handcuff me to Himself.
Hopefully now, you understand what I mean about true heartfelt worship. Not tears or emotions (the results, maybe) but finding truth and praising God for it.
Desiderio Domini
[i long to be with my savior]
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