Softly and Tenderly
A talented songwriter and musician wrote this beautiful song, which DL Moody said he would have loved to have written! Many lives have been touched by these special words. Has yours?
Welcome to Friday Classic Hymns! Every Friday I release a video like this, looking at an old classic hymn, its story and lyrics, before singing it at the end. May it bless you, and if you like it I hope you'll subscribe to the channel and hit that little notification bell so you can find out when the next one comes out.
Today's is a beautiful song. Everyone thinks I'm a hymn guy—like I'm some expert on hymns—but I'm really not. I don't know them that well. I'm now at the point where I'm having to learn hymns that are classic but I don't actually know, because I've never sung them. I grew up in a church where we didn't really do hymns that much. Today's hymn, "Softly and Tenderly", is a title that I've always known, but I don't remember singing this song. I had to learn it today, and I'm glad I did because it's an absolutely beautiful song.
Do you have memories of this song? Do you remember singing it at a particular church? Does it mean anything to you, or do the powerful words in the song bless you in a certain way? Please share that in the comments below. It's been a joy for me to read the stories that go with these songs in your lives, and I'd appreciate it if you would do that. Let's look at the history of this lovely song.
The Story Behind "Softly and Tenderly"
Will Thompson wrote this song. He was born in 1847 in Ohio and was a gifted musician. He ended up studying at the Boston Conservatory of Music in his early twenties, then went over and studied some more in Germany. His talents with music were obvious, and he began writing songs that were very popular. In fact, he made quite a good living from his music, writing secular songs that people really liked.
Somewhere along the line he must have become a Christian, because he started to write gospel songs, and they too became extremely popular. He was known as a fine Christian man, a gentle and kind man of God. He owned a music shop and a music publishing company, and everybody who knew him knew him as a man of God. In fact, Thompson had quite a busy music ministry. He would travel around in a horse and buggy to small towns in Ohio, singing his songs wherever he went. He was so well known because of this.
Undoubtedly his most well-known song was "Softly and Tenderly". It was a much-loved song from the moment he released it, and something about the song resonated with people. There was a tenderness to it—as the name actually suggests—that really brought the gospel truth to people in a very gentle and lovely way.
In fact, the great evangelist D.L. Moody, who had such a passion for bringing people to God, would use the song at his meetings as an invitational hymn. It is said that when Moody was on his deathbed, he said to Thompson that he would rather have written "Softly and Tenderly" than anything else that he'd done. So powerful is this song that even Moody recognised its ability to bring people to God.
Thompson died in 1911, but as I often say about these hymn writers, he lives on through the song. Let's see what it is, as we look at the lyrics, that made this as popular as it is.
What Do the Lyrics of "Softly and Tenderly" Mean?
Verse 1
Verse 1 says: "Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me; see, on the portals He's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me."
"Softly and tenderly"—I love this picture of Jesus not yelling, not shouting, not forcing, but softly, tenderly, with love, calling.
Now notice that phrase "for you and for me" throughout the whole song. He repeats this: "for you and for me". There's a real power behind this phrase. You see, it could have just been for him. He could have written it for himself and said, "Whatever else happens, at least I know this truth." But he said "for you and for me". He had this great sense of "this is our truth—it's not my truth, it's our truth".
I thought about this: this is why we go to church, isn't it? You can obviously stay at home these days and enjoy church activities on your couch, but then you're just taking it for yourself. But at church you're saying it's for you and for me—this great good news is for all of us. There's a shared love there. Really, when you are saying the love of Jesus is for you and for me, then you're getting it, because it's not just about us—it's about the people around us too.
I love this picture of Jesus waiting and watching, not forcing Himself on anybody. He doesn't do that. He is patient and waits and watches—like the Prodigal Son, the father in the Prodigal Son story, waiting on their porch, waiting and watching for his son to come home. That's a picture of Jesus, or of God the Father, waiting for His children to come home.
That's what the chorus says. The refrain goes: "Come home, come home, you who are weary come home."
Drifting from God has a way of making us weary. It's hard on our souls to be away from God because it's not where they're meant to be. There's no rest—real rest—apart from God. So this picture of God the Father sitting on that porch, waiting for us sinners to come home, is what the song is all about.
"Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!"
Earnestly—I love that word. Earnestly. You see, there's a seriousness to it. Jesus is really wanting us, desiring us to come back home. But His earnestness doesn't make Him shout and get aggressive. There's a tenderness to it, a gentle love that draws people in rather than a forceful shout which pushes people in.
Maybe you need to hear this today. Maybe you're weary because you've been drifting from God, and you need to hear Him gently calling to you: "Come home, My child. Come home." He's waiting.
Verse 2
Verse 2 goes like this: "Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not His mercies, mercies for you and for me?"
Why wait? In fact, I dealt with this in my Encounter on Sunday (those of you who watch my Encounter worship sessions, if you look at the last one I released, I spoke about this). There are times when we seem to wait, we seem to hesitate to go back. It's as if we're thinking, "We're too soiled, we're too stained, we're too sinful—God would not want us in His presence." So we hesitate, we wait.
But why should we wait? Jesus is calling and saying, "Come! I see your stains, but I want to wash you. I see how you've drifted, but I want to welcome you back home." Why wait? Why tarry? Why linger and not receive the mercy that He has for us?
In that Encounter, I shared a verse where Paul talked about Ananias, who helped him become a Christian. Ananias said to him in Acts 22, "What are you waiting for?" I love that. What are you waiting for? Just receive the love of God.
Maybe today you need to hear this: what are you waiting for? There's no need to wait. Jesus has got open arms, and He's calling you gently: "Come home, come home."
Verse 3
Verse 3 again tells of this seriousness, this earnestness, this urgency of this call of Jesus: "Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me."
He's saying time is short.
"Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me."
That phrase, apparently, is quite controversial. Some people have changed it because it's a little bit too serious, I guess. But I think it's important that it's there. Deathbeds are coming. Yes, death is awaiting each of us, and we need to make this decision to go to Jesus soon.
I love this—I love that he gets serious about it without getting aggressive. Again, he says you need to do this, you need to come home, because deathbeds are waiting and shadows will fall on your life. Come home. Tenderly pleads: "Come home."
Isn't that Jesus for you? Come home—tenderly, but seriously. Come home before it's too late.
As the last verse said, there is mercy for you. Don't come home and then expect you're going to be pushed around and beaten up. No, there are tender mercies for you. But come—come before it's too late.
Verse 4
Verse 4 says this: "O for the wonderful love He has promised, promised for you and for me!"
Yes, He has promised you love and mercy if you will come home.
Then the last line is: "Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me."
You don't need to feel like you must wait until you've sorted yourself out. Do you hear this? You don't need to wait until you are right to present yourself to God. That's totally wrong. You need to come as you are—though you have sinned—and receive His mercy and pardon.
Jesus was known for reaching out to the sinners because they were the ones who needed to come home. So even if you know you've sinned—and I hope you do know that you've sinned—come home, because there is pardon, there is forgiveness, there is mercy for you, whoever you are, no matter how far you've gone. There is mercy.
Somebody on this channel the other day commented on one of the hymns (I think it was "Jesus Loves Me") and said, "Oh, the version I know says when you mess up, God is going to curse you"—I'm not even going to repeat how it was phrased. I wanted to say to this person: No. If you mess up, come home, come home, because there is grace and pardon for you.
Come home today. Jesus is calling you softly and tenderly, earnestly, because there is going to be a time when it's too late if you haven't said yes to the call. So earnestly, but tenderly, He is calling sinners—all of us—to come home and find redemption, find new forgiveness, a new sense of love. Oh, what wonderful words.
Conclusion
Again, I ask you: does the song resonate with you? Does it touch your heart today, or has it drawn you near to God in the past? Once again, thank you for just being part of my channel. I appreciate your support with every video.
References
John McLelland. The Ambassador Book of Great Hymn Stories. 1994. Ambassador Productions Ltd: Belfast
Kenneth W. Osbeck. 101 Hymn Stories. 1982. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
