1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from
whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and
earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not
slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve
thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy
going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
(Psalms 121:1-8)
This reverent and holy hymn was composed by Ray
Palmer in 1830 to the inspiring tune of Olivet by Lowell Mason. Mr. Palmer
wrote the lyrics as an expression of his own personal faith, but that should be
the motivation of every hymn-writer, should it not? In his own words, “I gave
form to what I felt by writing, with little effort, the stanzas. I recollect I
wrote them with very tender emotion and ended the last line with tears.” This
hymn is offered as an alternate hymn for Lent in the 1940 Hymnal.
My Faith Looks up to Thee
My faith looks up to
thee,
thou Lamb of
Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I
pray,
take all my guilt
away;
O let me from this
day
be wholly thine.
May thy rich grace
impart
strength to my
fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died
for me,
O may my love to
thee
pure, warm and
changeless be,
a living fire.
While life's dark
maze I tread,
and griefs around me
spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to
day;
wipe sorrow's tears
away,
nor let me ever
stray
from thee aside.
When ends life's
transient dream,
when death's cold
sullen stream
shall o'er me roll;
blest Savior, then
in love
fear and distrust
remove;
O bear me safe
above,
a ransomed soul.
You will note that the salient petitions
contained in each verse of this hymn which, in brief, are these:
1) Hear me;
2) Strengthen me;
3) Guide me;
4) Save me.
My faith looks up to
thee,
thou Lamb of
Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I
pray,
take all my guilt
away;
O let me from this
day
be wholly thine.
From whence comes our faith. True and Saving
Faith is imparted to the sinner by God. It is for this reason that faith looks
up to God its Giver. (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills) Whatever love we
have is only a muted echo of that LOVE which God has shed abroad in the hearts
of His people. The DEEP love of God calls out to the depths of the hearts of
His people, and is answered in kind. “Deep calleth unto deep….” (Psalms 42:7)
The Lord Jesus Christ is our Lamb of Calvary; in fact, He is the Lamb without
blemish who was sacrificed for us before the world was formed. Christ cannot
share with Satan a part-ownership of our souls. It is ALL, or nothing with our
Lord. We must be wholly surrendered to His benevolent Will, and be sold out to
the allurements of the world.
May thy rich grace
impart
strength to my
fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died
for me,
O may my love to
thee
pure, warm and
changeless be,
a living fire.
Our Lord is changeless. He doesn’t deal with us
in a manner that differs from the manner in which He dealt with Abraham – it is
all of LOVE. It is by His grace that He imparts a redounding Faith to us. His
GRACE is our strength. “1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is
my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will
trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” (Psalms
18:1-2) We are of nothing worth without Christ. How can we not love such a
Savior who gave His last drop of blood for us? Our love must be fervent,
changeless as warm as the fire that God has imparted by His love for us. “For
our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12:29)
While life's dark
maze I tread,
and griefs around me
spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to
day;
wipe sorrow's tears
away,
nor let me ever
stray
from thee aside.
God is our Light and our Guide. Without His
Light of Life, we stumble blindly in the dark as drunken men. So, too, do
nations stumble as drunken men that have abandoned their Founding Benefactor in
God. The bleakest night becomes the Golden Dawn with Christ as our Guide. Whose
lead do you follow, Reader? Perhaps you follow some philandering TV evangelist,
or some pompous political figure – “they be blind leaders of the blind. And if
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matt 15:14) When
the shadows lengthen, and sorrows mount, turn to the ONLY One who can remove
every tear and every shadow. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev
21:4)
When ends life's
transient dream,
when death's cold
sullen stream
shall o'er me roll;
blest Savior, then
in love
fear and distrust
remove;
O bear me safe
above,
a ransomed soul.
The floods of this mortal life ebb and flow and,
yet, there comes the day of God’s own choosing when the candle of this mortal
life shall be extinguished. At that moment, a brilliant Torch of Life shall be
lit in Heaven if that soul belongs to the Lord of Life. When the waters of
Jordan overwhelm us, there is One who walks upon the flood to grasp our
desponding hand. He will not only lift us up above the churning waters of
death, but far beyond the glowing sunrise of our days to that Land of Promise
which He has covenanted to give all who claim the Faith of Abraham in Christ.
All of the Elect in Christ have been purchased at a cost far greater than all
of the far-flung stars and galaxies combined – the Blood of the only Begotten
Son of God. Consider the great cost God the Father paid for your soul, and be
ever grateful.
