O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
A touching song written by a blind man in a time of sadness. His words show his wonderful faith in looking to Jesus as the source of love, light, joy - and crosses to bear.
Welcome back to Friday Classic Hymns! Today I want to look at a song that my friend Jenny has been requesting for a while. She's a member of our church and has been saying it would be great for the series: "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go."
I don't really know this one well. I think I've heard the Gaithers sing it—they do an a cappella arrangement which is really great—but I never listened to it much. Exploring it this week and getting to know the words and the story has been very precious because it really is an amazing song.
Do you have any memories of the song? Do you know it and have you sung it anywhere special? I would love for you to share your memories in the comments below. Maybe if one of the lines or verses really strikes you today, put that in the comments. I'd love to read what your thoughts are and how the words impact you all these years after it being written.
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Let's talk about "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go."
The Story Behind "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go"
The man behind the song is George Matheson. He was born in 1842 in Glasgow, Scotland. From a young age he had very bad eyesight. By the time he was at university, his eyesight was really failing and he ended up going blind quite young. Even so, he was a brilliant scholar, rose to the top of his class, and graduated with flying colours. He went to the seminary of the Church of Scotland and became really one of the most respected and loved ministers of his time.
There's a story behind the song that it seems is actually false. Some have told the story of him falling in love during his years at university, but when he told his would-be wife that he was going to go blind completely at some point, she is said to have told him, "I don't want to be married to a blind man," and broke it off. Some have said that was the reason he wrote this song, but it doesn't seem to be the case at all.
He became a minister, and it was in his 40s when he was a minister that he wrote the song. He even explains it himself. Here are his words and his account of writing this song:
"My hymn was composed in the Manse of Innellan on the evening of the 6th of June 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the Manse at that time. It was the night of my sister's marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me which was known only to myself and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I'm quite sure that the whole work was completed in 5 minutes and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I've written are manufactured articles, but this came like a dayspring from on high."
His sister had been his housekeeper and had helped him cope as a blind man. When she was married, this was a big step for him as well. The theory is that's why he was so depressed on that night. As she was about to be married, he was trying to figure out what he was going to do. It was in his grief—whether caused by this moment or by something else, or as some have thought, maybe caused by him thinking back to when he was young and rejected by that girl—whatever it was, it was on this night of grief that he sat down and the song came pouring out.
Some of the greatest songs are written like that. They just come to you—they're clearly inspired. Others are a real work of labour, but this seems to have really been a God-inspired moment. I think it proves that even when we are depressed and in a bad place, God can still work. A friend of mine once said that God does His best work when we're in caves. He was talking about how David used to write these Psalms when he was in a cave, hiding from his enemies. God was shaping David in those moments. Maybe this was a moment like that for George Matheson.
As was quite normal for that time, it was written as a poem and later music was put to it. The first time anyone saw this was in a publication by the Church of Scotland. They saw these beautiful words, and it was an organist—a Scottish organist by the name of Albert Peace—who took these words and put them to music. He wrote a beautiful tune named St Margaret. Many people believe the tune is part of the success of this song. People love to sing it because it's got a beautiful melody.
Matheson carried on as a minister for the rest of his life. He wrote some beautiful devotional works and a good many more songs as well, although this is the one that everybody remembers. It's even said that he preached for the Queen at some point, and she was so impressed by his preaching that she gave him a sculpture of herself rather than a painting, which he of course couldn't see.
His hymn lives on and has had such a deep impact. Do you know, some of these hymns that I do for Friday Classic Hymns, I have to really scratch around for material, but when I picked up the books that I normally use to research these hymns, this one was in all of them. This was really a favourite of its day.
What Do the Lyrics of "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go" Mean?
The song has four verses, and each verse has a different theme which you can see in the first line.
Verse 1: O Love
The first one is "O Love"—love is the theme.
"O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee."
Beautiful. This love of God doesn't let us go when we're going through difficulties. It doesn't just say, "Okay, you're on your own. When you've sorted yourself out, come back." It hangs on to us. Jesus spoke about how, as the Good Shepherd, His sheep cannot be snatched out of His hands. His love holds us.
"I rest my weary soul in Thee."
Do you rest your weary soul in the love of God when you're in that sort of a place?
"I give Thee back the life I owe."
He's saying, "I owe You so much, and I give You my life." Of course, we can't even do anything to merit God's love. It's not as if we say, "Take my life," and then that will be enough to merit His salvation. Of course, His love is unearned and given as a gift of grace. But in response, he's saying, "I give You back my life. Take my life and use it in Your service." Every Christian who understands the love of God that doesn't let them go offers their life and says, "Lord, use me. Take my life."
"I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be."
Beautiful. He's saying in the depths of the love of God, my life will be fuller and richer as the love of God flows over me like an ocean. I will have fuller and richer life. I give my life to Him and trust that He will hold me and make my life what it is.
That's a beautiful verse to sing. I love it. This is certainly true, by the way, of the love of God. There is a richness and a fullness in the love of God that nothing else on earth can bring us. If you're looking for a rich and full life, the love of God that won't let you go is where you can find the deepest waves of wonder, richness, and fullness.
Verse 2: O Light
Verse two says this:
"O light"—the theme's going to be light in this verse.
"O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee."
Remember, this man was blind, so this must have been a special one for him to write. God is light that follows us, that lights up our way. I like how he says, "I yield my flickering torch to Thee." The light that I have is just flickering—it's not strong, it's kind of frail—but God's light is stronger.
"My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine's blaze its day may brighter, fairer be."
That's a little bit tricky, but he's saying my life is like a borrowed ray. I've just borrowed life from You—just a single ray of light is my life—but in Your sunshine's blaze, the day of my life can be brighter and fairer.
This is a beautiful line about how true life, true light, is found in God. Our lives are just like flickering rays of light, but when we yield to Him, then His sunshine blazes and envelops our lives so that they are brighter and fairer.
Remember, he was writing this in a dark season. He was in a dark place spiritually. When you're in a dark place spiritually, remember the light of God. Call out for Him that His light may overwhelm your darkness and make your day brighter and fairer.
Verse 3: O Joy
Verse three is about joy:
"O Joy that seekest me through pain."
Wow, that line has been sticking with me since I've read these lyrics. Joy that seeks me. Do you get a sense of God seeking you through pain? Often when we're going through pain, we get angry with God and reject Him. We don't have eyes to see that He's seeking us.
But the songwriter says, "I cannot close my heart to Thee."
Even though I'm going through pain, I cannot close my heart to God. That is faith. Saying, "While I'm in pain, I'm going to still be open to Him because I know He's seeking me."
In these beautiful words:
"I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be."
Though it's raining, I look up and I see the rainbow through the clouds. I see God's love through the clouds. I remember and feel in my heart that His promise to always be with me—and that a time of joy and recovery from this pain is coming—that promise, I believe in it and I hold on to it today.
As you go through a time of difficulty, maybe a rainstorm of some sort, can you trace the rainbow through it and hold on to God's promises that a tearless morning is around the corner? God is seeking you in your pain. Even this man, in his darkness and in his struggle, knew that God was seeking him and hadn't let him go.
Verse 4: O Cross
Verse four says:
"O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee."
The cross is a sign of sacrifice and of suffering. He's saying this cross that I'm bearing makes me lift up my head to God. I'm not going to ask to be rid of this cross.
That's a very powerful statement, especially in light of this man's story—a man who was blind saying, "I'm not going to ask to fly from this cross that I'm bearing."
But he goes on:
"I lay in dust life's glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be."
He's saying, "I'm lying in the dust, humbled by my suffering, but the glory of this life is dead." Because the life that I've given to God—my worldly life—is dead. That's at least how I read it. Life's glory, whatever glory life can give to me, I have yielded all of that to God. All of that is gone. Now I have been born again and I have this new life that will be endless—eternal life that God promises.
This line about "blossoms red"—he explains this. He said that white blossoms represent prosperity, but red blossoms represent self-sacrifice and suffering. For him, as he lies on the ground humbly giving himself to God, sacrificing himself, dying to his old life, there's a blossoming that happens. Sure, it's a red blossoming because there's self-sacrifice involved. It's not a blossoming in prosperity, but it's a life that will be endless that comes out of that sort of self-giving.
That is the song. It is beautiful. "O Love that wilt not let me go, O Light that followest all the way, O Joy that seekest me through pain, O Cross that liftest up my head."
Conclusion
Let me ask you: which verse really touched you today? Which one of these really meant something to you as you read the words?
As I learned it this week, I was looking at a beautiful version by HeartCry Worship. If you go look up that version, it really touched me. Also, Amy Grant's version was very cool. Hers had a bit more of a funky vibe to it with a horn section—I really liked that.
Go over to my website and look at all the other classic hymns I've done, as well as all my other music and my daily devotions. May God touch you as we sing together.
References
Frank Colquhoun. Preaching on Favourite Hymns. 1986. Mowbray: London
John McLelland. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. 1994. Ambassador Productions Ltd: Belfast
Kenneth W. Osbeck. 101 Hymn Stories. 1985. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
Ian Bradley. The Penguin Book of Hymns. 1989. Penguin Group: London
