Serendipity Sunday: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.....

Serendipity: An instance of making a delightful and unexpected discovery.

"that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise You forever."

~Psalm 30:12~(photo source)

Some years ago I made the delightful and unexpected discovery of the hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, while watching a movie. One of the characters was humming the hymn. After seeking it out and reading the words, it became my favorite hymn. Portions of it have become my prayer.

This hymn was written by Robert Robinson in 1758. Robert had a rough beginning. His father died when he was young and his mother, unable to control him, sent him to London to learn barbering. What he learned instead was drinking and gang-life. When he was 17, he and his friends reportedly visited a fortune-teller. Relaxed by alcohol, they laughed as she tried to tell their fortunes. But something about the encounter bothered Robert, and that evening he suggested to his buddies they attend the evangelistic meeting held by George Whitefield.

Whitefield was one of history's greatest preachers, with a voice that was part foghorn and part violin. That night he preached from Matthew 3:7, at the end of which he burst into tears exclaiming, "Oh, my hearers! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!"

Robert was greatly bothered by the message and sensed that Whitefield was preaching directly to him. The preacher's words haunted him for nearly three years, until December 10, 1755, when he gave his heart to Christ.

Robert soon entered the ministry, and three years later at the age of 23, while serving Calvinist Chapel in Norfolk, England, he wrote this hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday. It was a prayer to the Holy Spirit to flood into hearts with His streams of mercy, enabling singing of God's praises, and to remain faithful to Him. This hymn has been a church favorite ever since.

Robinson continued working for the Lord until 1790, when he was invited to Birmingham, England, to preach for Dr. Joseph Priestly. There on the morning of June 8, he was found dead at the age of 54, having passed away quietly during the night.(photo source)
Take a few moments to offer this hymn as a personal prayer, paying special attention to those last insightful lines:

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 God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I come.
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring 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 grace, Lord, 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, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

To listen to an instrumental version of this hymn, first scroll down to the bottom on my page and turn off the player, then click on the video below.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy