Restoring Grace (A Backslider’s Prayer)

Charles Wesley wrote a powerful hymn to help a backslider find their way back into God’s grace.

This is song number six in my Wesley's Hidden Gems project. I'm taking Wesley hymns that I think are beautiful but have been forgotten - not the ones people still know and sing, but the ones that I think never had any music written for them, as far as I can tell. I'm writing my own tunes for them because I think they're worth singing and listening to. They're so deep.

I've done five already, covering a variety of themes, and this one is a backslider's prayer. In fact, it is called "A Prayer for Restoring Grace" in the original hymnal. It's a beautiful appeal to God to restore the backslider into His grace and into His love.

Before we start, let's remember that the Wesleys believed you can lose your salvation. You can backslide out of grace - being fully embraced by God, but actually rejecting Him and losing your way completely. So this is a real prayer for the person who feels that way, who feels they may have already done that.

What Do the Lyrics of "Restoring Grace" Mean?

Verse 1

Jesus, friend of sinners, hear, Yet once again I pray.

He immediately calls Jesus a friend of sinners, appealing to Him on that basis - which, of course, is how Jesus was known when He was on earth, because of how He befriended people who were known sinners so that He could restore them. "Yet once again" - here I am, again, praying for your forgiveness. Many of us can relate to that: coming back and saying, "I can't believe I'm here asking for forgiveness again."

From my debt of sin set clear, For I have naught to pay.

Sin is a debt, in his mind. "Forgive us our debts," the Lord's Prayer says - we often say "trespasses," but "debts" is probably the better translation. He realises that his sin has put him in God's debt, and he says, "I have naught to pay." This is good Wesleyan theology - it's good theology, full stop. You've got nothing to pay to secure your forgiveness of sins. If you're trying to pay for it, you've misunderstood the whole thing. You have to come to God saying, "I've got nothing to pay" - like that other great hymn, "Rock of Ages": Nothing in my hand I bring.

Speak, oh speak the kind release, A poor backsliding soul restore.

He's saying: I've backslidden, but if You speak my release, I'll be restored. What a beautiful picture of grace - how God speaks His love and release over us so that He can restore us even if we've backslidden. The word "backslide," by the way, comes from Scripture - especially in Hosea and Jeremiah there are references to God's people having backslidden. The individual believer today can backslide: having once been in a good place with God, slipping out of that good place and needing to repent and come back into grace.

Love me freely, seal my peace, And bid me sin no more.

This phrase "love me freely" comes from Hosea 14, where God promises to love His people freely. He's drawing on that and saying: please love me in spite of my sin, in spite of the fact that I've got nothing to pay. "Seal my peace" - close it, let me not lose it again. This is real Wesleyan thinking too: the doctrine of assurance, that you can know yourself loved and forgiven by faith. And "bid me sin no more" - this is typical Wesley. He doesn't want just to be forgiven so he can go and do it again; he wants to be free of the things that cause him to backslide. It calls to mind, of course, the woman caught in adultery brought into Jesus' presence - He doesn't condemn her, but He says to her, "Go and sin no more." That's John 8. For any backslider, they can come to Jesus, receive His free love, and hear His word: sin no more.

Verse 2

For my selfishness and pride, Thou hast withdrawn Thy grace.

Just to be sure here - the Wesleys always believed in prevenient grace, that even if you are not believing in Christ, there is still grace in your life. So for the backslider who has rejected God and fallen out of a Christian life, yes, God withdraws His grace in a certain sense - that person, having rejected God, is no longer justified, no longer sanctified, and so that grace is not active in their life anymore. But prevenient grace is still active. God never withdraws His grace completely until it's too late - until we've died and stand before Him at the judgement seat. But if we live a life of selfishness and pride, even while confessing Him as Lord and Saviour, we've backslidden outside of that justifying grace and we need to repent and come back.

Left me long to wander wide, An outcast from Thy face.

When we reject God, we wander in a wilderness of sin and become an outcast from His face - like the prodigal son, having left the father's safety and rejected him and gone his own way.

But I now my sins confess, And mercy, mercy, I implore.

But of course there is hope. He's saying: I know that I've backslidden out of Your grace, but here I am, confessing my sins and imploring You to give me mercy. I love that double use of the word "mercy" - he's desperate here. Please, Lord, give me mercy.

Verse 3

Though my sins as mountains rise And swell and reach to heaven, Mercy is above the skies, I may be still forgiven.

He's recognising the depth of his sin, and this is important. When we have rejected God and sinned, it's not just a little bit of sin that has pulled you away - you need to recognise the mountain, the great height of your sin when you reject God. But he says: I may be still forgiven. And the language is important: his sins reach to the heavens, but mercy is above the skies. This is echoed often in the Old Testament - Psalm 108 says, "Thy mercy is great above the heavens." No matter how high we pile up our sins, God's grace is greater, and we can be forgiven of even the greatest mountain of sin. Paul says in Romans: where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

Infinite my sins increase, But greater is Thy mercy's store.

Yes, my sin has increased infinitely as I've rejected You. But I know that Your mercy is greater, and You can still love me freely, still give me the peace of knowing I'm forgiven, and set me free to sin no more. That "may" is important though - you need to fulfil the requirements to receive that forgiveness. It's not works, but it is faith and repentance.

Verse 4

Since deceitfulness hath spread A hardness o'er my heart.

He realises that his sin has caused his heart to harden against God. This is biblical language - the Scriptures say this is what happens to the person who rejects God. Think of Pharaoh's hardened heart, and Jesus talking about those whose hearts are hard. As we reject Him, our hearts get harder and harder.

But if Thou Thy Spirit shed, The stony shall depart.

God can break that heart of stone. This is a reference to Ezekiel 36, where He talks about putting a new spirit in us and giving us hearts of flesh rather than hearts of stone. For the backslider whose heart is hardened, they can by faith receive the Spirit and have that hardness melted away.

Shed Thy love, Thy tenderness, And let me feel the softening power.

Grace softens that hardened heart and takes away that hardness. What a beautiful prayer.

Verse 5

From the oppressive power of sin My struggling spirit free.

There's a bit of a shift here - not just "forgive me, forgive me" but "free me now." Romans 7 talks about this wrestle with sin that Paul had, but Romans 8 talks about the freedom he found from it.

Perfect righteousness bring in, Unspotted purity.

Here I believe he's moved from talking about just being forgiven, to being cleansed, to being sanctified. The Wesleys loved to talk about entire sanctification - that you can be truly freed from the power of sin, not just forgiven of it, but perfected in righteousness. A lot of people struggle with this, thinking: "No, I'm a sinner, I'll always be a sinner." The Wesleys were convinced that everyone is a sinner and can be forgiven, but that they can also overcome the power of that sin, be freed, and be righteous within - have unspotted purity. Let me be clear: they're not claiming something only God can have, but the New Testament teaching on holiness and purity that can be ours by faith and by grace.

Speak, and all this war shall cease, And sin shall give its raging o'er.

He doesn't want to have this war within, constantly giving in to sin and struggling. He wants to be cleansed of that. And the Wesleys never taught that you could be free from temptation - please know that. When he talks about the war ceasing, temptations will still come. But instead of having to wrestle with them so much that you feel you're always going to give in, he believes you can walk and resist temptation by the grace of God. Even though you're still human, even though you're still imperfect in the human sense, you can be cleansed, resist temptation, and live a holy life.

Verse 6

For this only thing I pray, And this will I require: Take the power of sin away, Fill me with chaste desire.

What I'm praying for, Lord - what I require - is that the power of sin be taken away, and that my heart be filled with holy desires rather than sinful ones. Take away those sinful desires so that I may live a God-honouring and holy life.

Perfect me in holiness, Thine image to my soul restore.

This is classic Wesley! He believes that in entire sanctification, where the image of God is restored to your heart. When you sin wilfully, that image of God is shattered - that's what happened when Adam sinned. Now we're all born with a sinful nature. But by His restoring grace, that image can be restored in our hearts. Wesley is always proclaiming that you can be forgiven and you can be set free and restored in your relationship with God - completely.

And again, let me remind you: this perfection he talks of is not something that can't be improved upon. There is still growth in grace even if you are entirely sanctified. There is still glorification when you die, which is another level of freedom. But here on earth, you can have that image restored and live in that perfected holiness in the New Testament sense.

Conclusion

I love this song! When I read it, I felt that I understood it - understood what he was saying - because I have myself backslidden at times. I believe I moved out of God's grace because I willfully rejected Him and did things that I knew He didn't want me to do. It was not the same thing as just slipping into mistakes; it was an actual rejection of God's ways and wilful sin. I believe that in those moments I backslid out of His grace and needed to do this - to come back. I've done that. The song excited me because it captured so much of my joy in experiencing that restoration.

I ask you today: have you backslidden? Have you been claiming the name of God and yet sinning and expecting He'll just forgive you? Is it possible that the Bible's teaching on backsliding is actually true in your life - that you've rejected God by sinning and moved outside of His grace? If that's the case, you're not lost. You're still able to repent, come back into a holy life, and have Him love you freely, seal your peace knowing that you're forgiven, and bid you sin no more.

Do you need to come back and repent and be forgiven? Do you need to come back and consecrate your life fully to God - saying, "There is not a thing I'm holding back from You anymore. I will completely live for You in every area of my life. And I expect You, Lord, in this moment, by Your grace, to enable me to do that" - receiving not only His justification, His saving grace, but also His sanctifying grace? Friends, do it. Spend time in prayer with God and believe that He can restore you completely - restore you, forgive you, and make you holy. I believe it's possible.

This song, singing it, has given me such hope. As I sing it now, I hope you'll sing along with me - and maybe you'll use this song in your walk with God if you realise you've backslidden, and come back to God through it.