Hymns With A Message: I AM TRUSTING THEE LORD JESUS

Sunday, October 18, 2015

I AM TRUSTING THEE LORD JESUS

Who can you really trust today? Politicians make promises that they don't keep. Scammers are active on the internet and by phone trying to steal our identity. Drug companies make promises about their products that don't always work. Sales people and customer service reps can't always be trusted or depended on. Even many so-called pastors and evangelists deceive us by twisting scripture. And sometimes even our friends and family members let us down. Unfortunately, we live in an age where a person's word often means nothing. But in this dark world we do have One, the Lord Jesus Christ and His written word, the Bible that we can depend upon. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. And He never has and never will. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Jeremiah 17:7. The Bible tells us that we can and should put our trust in Him. Proverbs 3:5, 6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your ways." Are we trusting Him in all of our ways? Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879) was the daughter of hymnist and preacher William Havergal. She was very talented, learning to read by age four, and writing verses at age seven. In her girlhood days she knew the whole of the New Testament, the Psalms, and Isaiah by heart, and afterwards memorized the Minor Prophets . Early she learned French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek and Hebrew and daily she read the Old and New Testaments in the originals. She apparently inherited musical ability from her father who was a man of education as well as piety and was known for his musical adeptness. Frances herself wrote hundreds of hymns, some of which are loved and still sung by Christians around the world today. She was concerned to write beautiful and memorable words joined with good music, and she was even more committed to writing hymns that clearly expressed biblical truth. Her health was precarious, and at times she suffered painfully from disease. But her Christian trust was supreme over every trial. She died of peritonitis near Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales at the young age of 42. It is said that out of her many hundred songs which she composed, her favorite was "I Am Trusting Thee Lord Jesus." It was found in her Bible after her death. It is interesting that with all of her education and learning, after all the trials and difficulty that she faced during her brief life, her favorite composition shared the key of her testimony of her faith in Christ. He was the one she could trust. 150 years later He still is the only one that we can trust to be with us and guide us and strengthen us in the challenges of everyday living. This week I was looking for a hymn that would express my testimony and trust as I face a difficult surgery this week. Many of my favorites have already been shared in this blog over the years and I try not to repeat them. And as I searched, the Lord led me to this hymn of trust. And my testimony as I face the unknown is, "I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, trusting only Thee." I do have to trust the surgeon and the nursing staff, but I Know it is the Lord who controls them and controls my life and in Him I trust. Is that your testimony this week? Do you trust Him for pardon, for cleansing, for guidance, for power and for his daily presence and provision? He can be trusted ... forever.

1. I am trusting Thee, Lord, Jesus,

Trusting only Thee;

Trusting Thee for full salvation,

Great and free.

2. I am trusting Thee for pardon;

At Thy feet I bow;

For Thy grace and tender mercy,

Trusting now.

3. I am trusting Thee for cleansing

In the crimson flood;

Trusting Thee to make me holy

By Thy blood.