A thousand? I don’t know what to do with one sometimes, and here is this comment that suggests what someone would do with a thousand. The hymn, “A Thousand Tongues to Sing” is pretty well known in Christian circles, and many a church goer has sung the hymn, possibly by rote, not even hearing the meaningful lyrics being sung for the umpteenth time. The hymn by Charles Wesley was prompted by a quote from the Moravian preacher Peter Boehler, who said to Charles, “If I had a thousand tongues I would praise Jesus with every one of them.” Again comes the question, “a thousand?” Wesley responded some time later by writing these words:
O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.
My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of Thy name.
Jesus! the name that charms our fears, tat bids our sorrows cease;
'Tis music in the sinner's ears, ‘tis life, and health, and peace.
His love my heart has captive made, his captive would I be,
For He was bound, and scourged and died, my captive soul to free.
He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.
So now Thy blessed Name I love, Thy will would e'er be mine.
Had I a thousand hearts to give, my Lord, they all were Thine!
Boehler and Wesley recognized a few things here. First, that God was GOD and was so magnificent beyond our understanding that mere mortal lyrics just couldn’t do justice to praising God. Mere mortal words couldn’t speak descriptively enough to encompass the greatness of God, who He is and what He has done. Mere human hearts aren’t capable of loving God back with the same completeness with which God loves us. So the question wrestles with the concept of using finite human words and emotions to respond to the power, the greatness, and the magnitude of the unending love of our infinite God.
If I had a thousand tongues and the wisdom of the ages, could I then tell God how grateful I was for his love, and tell others about how much God means to me? My answer is “probably not” but part of the adventure of this Christian life is to keep moving forward in that conversation with my Father God (what parent doesn’t enjoy hearing that their children love them?), and keep telling others about Him in the best way I know.
What does God mean to you? What is there about Him that you would ever want to share with someone that you care about?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment