I am often in awe of great wordsmiths who write profound lines in poetry, hymns and songs. George Matheson, a blind Scottish minister of religion wrote a famous hymn on the evening before his sisters wedding.
Mattheson had lost his sight aged twenty, while he was trianing for the ministry and engaged to be married. His fiance decided that she could not go through life with a blind man and left him. His sister looked after him as his sight deteriorated, so the night before her wedding was an inportant day in his life and he claims that on that night he penned the words to one of his most famous hymns “O love that wilt not let me go” and claims “I am quite sure that the whole hymn was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no naturat gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have written are manufactured articles, this came like dayspring from on high”
If the hymn is unfamiliar to you, take five minutes to Google “O love that wilt not let me go” I believe that the words are quite profound. During one of the darkest hours of my life, I was drawn to verse three of this hymn, though a letter somebody had written me.
O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
I know that the language is old fashioned, but at a point when I couldn’t see my way forward, these words gave me hope and even today when I’m out and about, with the rain falling, the rainbow ark in the sky reminds me that even in the darkest days of despair, there is still a future.
The last two years have been challenging for all of us, we have all had to face changes in our circumstances, whether we have lost people who we have loved dearly, not just to Covid, but to a whole host of other issues. Some of us will have been forced to stay at home, which has meant complete isolation and loneliness. Many of us will have family members in hospital and care homes and haven’t been able to see them, some will have lost their jobs, we all are possibly feeling the pinch in our wallets as prices increase every time we visit the shops.
No doubt, George Matheson thought his life as he knew it was coming to an end, he had lost his sight, lost the girl he loved and now, his sister who had cared for him was getting married and yet in this moment of utter desolation he wrote these magnificent words of hope. When all else is gone, he rests his weary soul in the hands of God, who has not abandoned him, this isn’t the end, it is the beginning. There is still a future, even in our darkest hour.
Prayer:
At a time when the going is tough, and I have nowhere else to turn. Help me to put my trust in you God, that I might find a way through this. I also pray for those who I know are finding the journey hard at the moment, give them the strength they need to find the way through. Amen