Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, LBW 499 & ELW 807
1 Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love,
Teach me ever to adore thee;
May I still thy goodness prove.
2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
3 Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be;
Let that goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it;
Seal it for thy courts above.
Devotion
It is not a new metaphor: God’s blessings are like an overflowing fountain, a never-ending stream of living water—these words come straight out of scripture. The author of this hymn prays that God will come and re-tune his heart to sing God’s praises alone.
What I especially love about this hymn is the honesty of the voice—the singer loves God, but also acknowledges her/his inability to love God as faithfully as is deserved. In verse 2, Jesus seeks out the wayfaring singer and rescues her/him from danger. But the singer still desires to stray—though he/she is at least humble enough to confess it. The final request is that God would take and seal a wandering heart to the freedom of being bound to Christ.
Prayer
Saving God, teach me to love you. Bind my wandering heart to you and form my words to sing your praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.