Breathe On Me Breath of God
A brilliant man with simple faith wrote the classic hymn "Breathe on Me Breath of God". His lyrics about the Holy Spirit have inspired many over the decades!
Welcome to Friday Classic Hymns. Last Sunday was Pentecost, which is the day every year where the church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit which we see in Acts 2.
Every Christian needs to have their own Pentecost where they are filled with the Holy Spirit. In my search for a Holy Spirit hymn for today's Friday Classic, I didn't really find a whole lot. I know there are a lot of modern songs that talk about the Holy Spirit in a strong way, but amongst the hymns there were many obscure ones. I eventually found one which is quite popular which I found very sweet, although I didn't know it at all. I had to learn it—I'd never sung it before. It's a song called "Breathe on Me Breath of God". I wonder if you know this one? Have you been blessed by the song? What does this song mean to you? Share it below in the comments, like the video, and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already.
Let's get into the history of this beautiful little Pentecost hymn.
The Story Behind "Breathe on Me Breath of God"
This quite simple little song was written by a quite brilliant man named Edwin Hatch. He was born into a non-conformist English family in 1835 and became a very good student. It was quite clear straight away that he was a gifted child in many ways, but instead of pursuing academics initially, he decided to become an Anglican priest.
He was ordained in 1859 and took a local church in London, but he soon discovered it wasn't really his calling—he was more of an academic. He ended up moving to Canada, where he spent eight years, first as a lecturer in Classics and then as a Headmaster at a local school. He came back to Oxford after this and really cemented himself as a respected theologian and historian. He wrote books with very complicated-sounding titles like this one: A Concordance to the Septuagint and Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament Including the Apocryphal Books, and The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church.
He really was respected for these types of biblical works that he wrote. But even though he was a towering intellect, he was a man of very simple faith. In fact, listen to these words which I found in a book called More Preaching on Favourite Hymns: "There was another side to Edwin Hatch. He was not all brains. He lived very close to God and showed it in his life." In The Penguin Book of Hymns, which is one that I use for my research, these words were written by Ian Bradley: "Despite his academic eminence, Hatch was a man of deep and simple piety, as this hymn shows. It was said of his religion that it was as simple and unaffected as a child's."
I think this is what Jesus expects of us. He wants us to do well and to really rise to high standards and be excellent in the things that we do, but never losing our deep, childlike, simple faith. This hymn is proof that Hatch did exactly that.
In 1889, he died, and a book of his poems was published. This was written as a poem in this book, and it became a classic. Everybody just loved this little set of words that he wrote. It's been sung to many different tunes, but it's the words that make it what it is. So let's take a look at these lyrics to see why this song is such a favourite.
What Do the Lyrics of "Breathe on Me Breath of God" Mean?
Verse 1
Each verse starts with "Breathe on me, breath of God".
This brings about images to my mind of Jesus after He'd been risen from the dead, meeting the disciples in the upper room and breathing on them. As He breathed, according to John 20, He said to the disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Hatch, in writing this beautiful song, was essentially saying, "Come Holy Spirit." "Breathe on me, breath of God" means "Fill me with the Holy Spirit, O Lord."
You'll see this throughout the song—it's all about the Spirit's filling and what the Spirit does in our lives.
He says, "Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what you so love, and do what you would do."
"Fill me with life anew"—that's a beautiful phrase. Lord, give me a new life. Jesus talks about us being born again, having a new life, being transformed into new people.
The Spirit comes and the Spirit gives us new life by filling us from head to toe and transforming us into Christ's likeness. Oh, have you received a new life that the Spirit can give?
Hatch says that when we are filled with the Spirit, we will love what God loves and do what He does. I really thought that was profound. We love what God loves. Our hearts go after the things of God when we are filled with the Spirit. When we aren't filled with the Spirit, we're all about our own desires—"If I can just satisfy my own desires, that's all that matters." But the heart of one who has been filled with the Spirit says, "Let me go after the things of God," because you begin to love those things.
Are you filled with the Spirit and loving the things of God and doing the things He does? Going out and doing good work in the world? Good deeds? Because that's what Jesus did—preaching the good news by the way you live and even by your words. Filled with the Spirit, we love what God loves and we do what He does. Ask the Spirit to come. Ask God to breathe on you today that you may be transformed like this.
Verse 2
"Breathe on me, breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with you, I will one will: to do and to endure."
He's saying, "Spirit, come and cleanse my heart." This is one of the wonderful things the Holy Spirit does in our lives. We are saved by God's grace and by what Jesus did on the cross. We are forgiven and our stains are washed away because of these things, but it is really the work of the Spirit to cleanse us and to get rid of our sin and to make us new and holy.
It's a wonderful thing when you discover that you don't need to live and believe that you're just disgusting to God. No, He cleanses you by His Spirit. He washes away those sins and makes you whole and new. Oh, how wonderful to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit. Have you received this?
When you do, Hatch says your will will become aligned with God's. Again, just like in verse 1 where he said, "I'll love what You love," here he's saying, "I will will what You will when I'm filled with the Spirit, and I'll be able to do and to endure."
The fourth line: "I'll be able to live for You and endure life's sufferings, whatever comes my way, but only if I'm filled with the Spirit."
So many Christians try to strive their way through life without the Spirit's power, and then we just get defeated and broken. But when the Spirit is in us, we can do for God and we can endure whatever comes our way. Oh, receive the breath of God breathing the Spirit on you today so that you can live this way.
Verse 3
"Breathe on me, breath of God, my will to yours incline, till all this selfish part of me glows with your fire divine."
He's saying, "While I'm on earth, I'm going to be completely Yours. I want to be so full of You that I'm glowing, that I'm burning with passion from Your fire."
The Holy Spirit in Acts 2 seemed like tongues of fire according to the Bible, and there's a sense in which even today, when the Spirit fills us, He burns in our hearts so that we are passionate and full of God's love and goodness.
Are you burning for God because the Spirit of fire is in you? We're all called for our earthly selves to be so full of the Spirit that we look like Christ in the way we live our lives. Oh, ask God to fill you with His Spirit now and release that fire into you so that you are holy His.
Verse 4
"Breathe on me, breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life of your eternity."
He's saying, "Breathe on me with Your Holy Spirit so that I will one day reach heaven and live with You in perfect unity into eternity."
Isn't it our ultimate goal? Of course, our goal is to live well here and to transform the earth with the love of Christ, but we long for the day when we leave and are gathered up in eternity.
We need to be filled with the Spirit. We need the Spirit in us, which is a sign that we are truly His.
Conclusion
What a beautiful hymn. I pray that as we sing it, we will do more than just sing, but that we will worship and pray this as a prayer just set to a tune.
References
More Preaching on Favourite Hymns
Ian Bradley, The Penguin Book of Hymns
