Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus - story behind the hymn
This classic hymn has a tragic story of loss and heartache - but through it all, the author Louis M.R. Stead found that trusting Jesus was the answer! She also became a missionary to my own country of South Africa.
Welcome to another Friday Classic Hymn. I discovered with joy as I was researching this hymn that it has some connection to my own country of South Africa—that was really cool to see. I also discovered that it has a tragic story behind it, as so many of these classic hymns do. I look forward to sharing all of that with you and reading your comments and your memories of this hymn in the comments below.
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Let's get into today's song, which is 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
The Story Behind "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"
This one was written by Louisa M. R. Stead. She was an English lady born in 1850 in Dover, who moved to the States as a young lady, got married over there, and had a young daughter. But one day tragedy struck because the family was out picnicking at the Long Island Sound Beach in New York. Next thing they heard was the cry of a young boy in the water. Her husband jumped up and off he went into the water to try and save this boy, but the waves were too strong for him. Louisa watched in horror as both her husband and this boy drowned.
As you can imagine, she struggled with this in the years to come, but her faith was what got her through. It was only a few years after this tragedy that she wrote the song 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. What a remarkable thing to write, having gone through such a terrible tragedy.
I've heard many times of the story of Horatio Spafford—I did a Friday Classic Hymn on It Is Well with My Soul (I'll put the link below)—and he wrote the song out of great tragedy. I've always known that story; it's been shared so many times. But I never knew that this beautiful little song came out of tragedy as well. People of God have this way of going deep in their faith in times of difficulty, and Mrs Stead was one who did this.
Shortly after she wrote this song, she moved to South Africa. Turns out from a young age she had a great desire to become a missionary; she felt called to mission work. She came out here to the Cape and started doing mission work, teaching others about the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. She met a man here, they got married, and they ended up going back to the States for a while, looking after a little Methodist church there. But then that call to mission work persisted in her life, so they moved back to Rhodesia (or what is now known as Zimbabwe).
Louisa's faith is shown in some words that she wrote in a letter to a friend. She wrote this in connection with this whole mission: "There are glorious possibilities, but one cannot, in the face of the peculiar difficulties, help but say, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' But with simple confidence and trust we may and do say, 'Our sufficiency is of God.'"
That faith, that trust, that simple, sweet trust that she wrote about in the song, was there all the way through her life. She died at the age of 67, having worked there in the Rhodesian mission station for a good few years. Her song was so popular that it was translated into the local language and was sung many times. In fact, when she died, they said in the mission station that she lived on through the song sung by the locals. Of course, it's been sung in so many different places ever since, hasn't it?
I wonder, were you singing it? Have you got a memory of singing this at a particular church perhaps, or camp meeting, or something like that? Share it below.
What Do the Lyrics of "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" Mean?
Verse 1: Trusting in His Word
Verse 1 says: 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take Him at His word; just to rest upon His promise, and to know, "Thus saith the Lord."
I love this! Trust, sweet trust in Jesus, is in His word—in the things that He has said, His promises.
Just last weekend I preached a sermon at my church (I'll put the link down below if you want to see it) which spoke about how when Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples, He spoke to them and said, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid." Those words had such power in their lives to get rid of their fears. We spoke about how we need to hear God speak to us and trust in His word when He says, "Take courage, be encouraged, I am here, do not be afraid."
It is so sweet to learn to trust in His words because it's not just our ideas about Him, our random ideas that we come up with by ourselves. No, it's all about how God is revealed, or how Jesus is revealed, in His word. That is what gives us hope and helps us to trust. If we can't trust what's written about Him in His word, then we're just making it all up. It's His word that we trust in.
I like how she said, "just to know, 'Thus saith the Lord.'" That's what gives me sweet trust. I remember a preacher, a mentor of mine, once saying to me, "When people come to hear you preach, they mustn't leave saying, 'Oh, this is what the preacher thinks about this, this and this,' but they need to leave saying, 'Thus saith the Lord,' because you as a preacher need to preach God's word and not your own ideas." That's always stuck with me. The people listening to me as a preacher need to at least be saying, "We heard God's word today."
Yes, friends, we need to trust above all in God's word.
Chorus: Jesus, How I Trust Him
The chorus of the song goes on and says: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I've proved Him o'er and o'er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!
Again, I trust Him, I trust Him. I like how she said, "I've proved Him o'er and o'er."
I wonder if she was saying, "My life proves that the truth about Jesus is real." To prove something means to demonstrate it to be true. Her life clearly did this; it demonstrated that Jesus is real. Does your life prove Jesus? Can people look at you and say, "Well, that's proof that there is a God," because you live such a Christlike life?
Oh, how I pray that my life proves Jesus over and over!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. I love that word precious. Jesus is cherished and dear and valued to her. I wonder if He is to you. Is Jesus precious to you? Do you sing that line and your heart just soars because you realise, "Yes, how precious He is to me"?
O for grace to trust Him more! I love that line. The ability to trust in Him is from God's grace. It is He who enables us to trust Him. Wesleyans would talk about prevenient grace, about how it is God who gives us the ability to choose to trust Him. It's Him enabling us, but it's our responsibility to trust. We want to trust Him more and we try to with all our hearts because He's enabled us to.
There are some words in the Psalms that say this: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Yes, we trust in Him! So sweet to trust in Him, and we want to trust Him more and more every day and appeal to God to give us more grace to trust Him.
Verse 2: Trusting in His Cleansing Blood
Verse 2 says this: O how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust His cleansing blood; and in simple faith to plunge me 'neath the healing, cleansing flood!
She goes on to talk about how trusting Him means trusting in His blood which cleanses. I love these words she uses: the flood, the overwhelming flood of the blood that flowed. She wants to be plunged into it.
Many of us would probably think that's a bit grotesque—to be plunged into blood is not something that you'd want in your life, I'm sure. But it's a symbol of what Christ did. He shed His blood on the cross, and so by placing our faith in Him, we are plunged symbolically into the blood that cleanses us and washes our hearts clean of stains.
Have you so trusted in Christ that you've plunged yourself into the cleansing flood of His blood? Are you so convinced that only Christ can cleanse you of your sin that you are happy to say, "Flood me with the blood of Christ, that I may be properly clean, that I may be completely clean and made new and purified by Him"?
It's so sweet, so sweet and wonderful, to trust Jesus in this way and to know yourself to be cleansed and forgiven. I can understand why she writes, "How sweet to trust in Jesus and to know that He has cleansed me."
Oh, I hope that you know it too, friends, because there's nothing better than knowing yourself forgiven because the blood of Jesus covers you.
Verse 3: Finding Peace in Jesus
I love how she claims in the third verse how this knowledge, this faith, brings her peace. Look at this third verse: Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease; just from Jesus simply taking life and rest, and joy and peace.
Turning away from sin and self in order to live for Jesus—just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace. That's a beautiful little sentence to close the song: just from Jesus simply taking life and joy and rest and peace.
Do you have life because you found it in Jesus? He's the one who gives life in all its fullness, life in abundance.
Have you found rest in Jesus, rest from your anxiety and your worry, because you trust in Him so much?
Have you found joy and delight in your heart because you realise He is your God, and that gives you the greatest joy you could ever imagine?
Have you found peace? Peace with God because you're cleansed by the blood?
Oh, when you trust in Jesus, you find peace and you find all these things. It's so sweet, it's so sweet to trust in Him.
Conclusion
Let me ask us today, friends: Where is our trust? Are we trusting in ourselves? Are we trusting in other things? Or are we trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone? It's so sweet and delightful and wonderful to trust in Him.
I recorded the song just the other day on my Canaan Melodies project—an old Nazarene hymnal. I'm recording the songs one by one and releasing them here on YouTube. I'm going to put a link to the 'Tis So Sweet performance that I did there so that you can sing along with me. I don't want to repeat it in this video. Click on the link—I'll put it everywhere so that you can't miss it, in the comments, in the description, and here on the video as well.
I hope you'll sing along with me and just join me in saying it's so sweet, it's so sweet to trust in His name. Thanks for watching. Check out that video and join me here next week for another Friday Classic Hymn.
References
Dr Martin G. Young. 2014. Insanity of Theology.
Kenneth W. Osbeck. 1985. 101 Hymn More Stories.
