The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 25 July 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" ELW 807, verse 3

The Lutheran Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 25 July 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" ELW 807, verse 3
"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" ELW 807, verse 3
3. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be;
let that grace now like a fetter
bind my wand'ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.
"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Robert Robinson (1735-1790)

1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

  Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

  Call for songs of loudest praise.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

  Wand’ring from the face of God;

He, to save my soul from danger,

  Interposed His precious blood.

2. O to grace how great a debtor

  Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,

  Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.

Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure,

  Meet for me Thy grace to prove,

While I sing the countless treasure

  Of my God’s unchanging love.

3. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

  Prone to leave the God I love:

Take my heart, oh, take and seal it

  With Thy Spirit from above.

Rescued thus from sin and danger,

  Purchased by the Savior’s blood,

May I walk on earth a stranger,

  As a son and heir of God.

St. Augustine prayed, "Our heart is unquiet until it rests in you." In ministry we meet many whose hearts are "unquiet." Some come searching for an experience with God, or an answer that would make everything right. And some have tasted God in one fashion or another and are unquenchable in their "church" satisfaction. They leave us and go elsewhere to find what they're looking for.
Robert Robinson, the 18th century author of the hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," was a searcher. In his lifetime he was a Baptist, a Methodist, a Congregationalist, and eventually something of a Unitarian. Critical, perhaps, of Robinson's church shopping, who among us don't have periods of a "wandering heart?" The confessional perspective that we all share, at one time or another, is being unquenchable to the point of being prone to leave the God we love. And so we simply ask that God might take our wandering hearts and keep them secure.
Holy God, take our unquiet and wandering hearts and give us peace that we might find our rest in you ... only in you. Amen.
Brian Malison
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Visalia, Cali.
Master of Divinity , 1987
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