Hymns With A Message: HE IS ABLE TO DELIVER THEE

Sunday, April 19, 2015

HE IS ABLE TO DELIVER THEE

One of my favorite Bible stories is the account of the three Hebrew young men who were thrown into the fiery furnace. And before they were thrown in they turned down the king's offer and replied, as recorded in Daniel 3:17, " If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." Now the Lord did not see fit to keep them from that furnace but He joined them in the furnace and then delivered them out of it safely. Deliverance is defined as "a rescue from bondage or danger." Deliverance in the Bible is the act of God whereby He rescues His people from peril. Sometimes that is deliverance from the bondage of sin. He can deliver the worst sinner and make them His child. Or it can be the eventual deliverance of His children from this vile earth to the beauty of His home in heaven. Sometimes that deliverance is God simply walking through the trials by our side, comforting and encouraging us through them as He uses them to mature us in the faith. Paul assured the Corinthian believers that no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. In these cases, rescue may not be immediate, but will come in due time, after patience has had its perfect work in our lives. This week's hymn choice is an old hymn which talks about God's ability and willingness to deliver us in the day of trouble. The author was William Ogden (1841 - 1897). At the age of eight Ogden received early musical training in community singing schools. By age ten he could read music fairly well. A little later, he could write a melody by hearing it sung or played. When he was eighteen, he became a song director in his home church. During the Civil War, he served in the 30th Indiana Volunteer Infantry for four years, and he organized a men's choir which became well known throughout the Army of the Cumberland. Later he became widely known as a teacher of normal music schools and as a conductor of musical conventions throughout the United States and Canada. As his skills developed, Ogden issued his first song book, The Silver Song, in 1870. It became immensely popular, selling 500,000 copies. I've not been able to locate any information about the writing of this particular hymn but I must assume that he experienced God's deliverance in many ways during his lifetime and this hymn may have been the testimony of those experiences. If today you are weighed down with the burden of sin, He can deliver you. If you are facing difficult trials he will walk through them with you and comfort and deliver you. And He has promised one day to deliver His children to our permanent home in Heaven. What a joy and grand theme to know that He will deliver us. Deliverance from sin, rescue from trials, and escape from the influence of a world in the control of the evil one come only through Christ, the Son of God

(1) 'Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung;

'Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;

'Tis the grandest theme that the world e'er sung,

"Our God is able to deliver thee."

He is able to deliver thee,

He is able to deliver thee;

Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest;

"Our God is able to deliver thee."

(2) 'Tis the grandest theme in the earth or main;

'Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain;

'Tis the grandest theme, tell the world again,

"Our God is able to deliver thee."