O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

There's a hymn that I find myself singing more often than not. It's the title of this post. When you explore this hymn, you find how rich, profound, and true it is. For something written like this, you'd think it would've taken hours, maybe weeks. But in reality, it was written in 5 minutes. There's not a whole lot of things you can do in 5 minutes.  Yet the words penned in that amount of time have touched many and continue to do so to this day. Below is the entire hymn.

O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light, that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

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.

O Cross, that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

I love this hymn for many reasons. The first being the four points the verses talk about. O Love. O Light. O Joy. O Cross. Believe it or not, they all represent one thing, or person for that matter. They all represent Christ. And each verse opens with something marvelous Christ has done, and in response, the author does something in return. But let's dive deeper shall we?

The first verse talks about a Love that will never let go. No matter what you do in life, no matter how awful you have been, no matter if you think no one will love you, this Love will never let go. Then the verse goes deeper. The author says: I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths it's flow may richer fuller be. Christ gave us life. Christ gave up His life for us. We owe him our life. But in this case, not to an end. To lose ourselves so deep in the Love of Christ, that it'll make it rich and full. That's amazing.

Verse two talks about Christ going wherever we go. Lighting our path so we don't stumble and fall on the things that darkness hides. He will never fade and never go dim. In light of this, we ourselves are but a candle compared to His blaze. I yield my flickering torch to Thee is the author recognizing this and surrendering it to Christ.

The third verse is one that penetrates the inner depths of my soul. Where there is much pain, there is no joy. But the Joy of Christ will seek you in that pain. Even though every ounce of your being wants to shut Him out, your heart just can't do it. And with this Joy comes the promise that though there may be pain in the night, His Joy comes in the morning. No matter what you are going through, have hope, that Joy shall soon return.

The fourth verse can be really tough to take. But it's meaning is so powerful and is the epitome of the Christian life. After three verses of hope, comfort, joy, love, etc, we get a more sobering one. It takes about an amazing picture of Christ's sacrifice for us. Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world. The cross lifted up His head. When you choose Christ, you too are sharing in His death...and resurrection. The author realizes that because Christ hung on the cross for him...for the world, that as painful as it was and the suffering that sometimes comes from following Christ, is not worth leaving. Because life's glory on this earth is truly dead. But when Christ died, and His blood was shed, that sacrifice, that ultimate gift, promises eternal life to all who believe. "And from the ground there blossoms red Life that shall endless be."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt69WDtYNLo