Here's my heart, oh take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

 

**Consider for a moment the life of Robert Robinson.His is a story of God's ability to turn tragedy into truimph-- one of the most moving that I have ever read .Robinson reminds me of so many men and women I have known through the years.Perhaps you will recognize something of yourself in his experience.

Robinson wrote the unforgettable words to the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing",one of my favourites.He was a good man who at the age of seventeen placed his trust in Christ through the influence of the great preacher George Whitefield.He later entered the ministry to serve Christ with great love and devotion.

But Robinson was an honest man,too,and he acknowledged a difficult truth about himself:His love for Jesus was deep but not dependable.At times his passion for God waned and the well of his devotion ran dry.Sometimes he felt nothing at all for His Lord.His heart was"prone to wander"

This cold truth troubled Robinson.As he grappled with it,he began to write out his thoughts and feelings,and finally produced a timeless hymn."Come Thou Fount" is an autobiographical story of a man so unworthy,so unfaithful, yet always forgiven and welcomed home to the loving arms of his Lord.

As time moved on and Robinson grew older,he wandered farther and farther from God.His actions and attitudes began to darken,and he came to feel that the distance between God and himself had become too great to be renconciled.Sin and corruption had taken root in his life.How could he ever look into the eyes of Jesus again? Robert Robinson was a miserable man,consumed by the grief of his own guilt.With the restless heart of Jonah,of the Prodigal Son,and of every guilt-ridden soul,he took to the road.Maybe some distant land would hold the cure.Maybe he could somehow leave his self -condemnation behind.

One day, a young woman, who was filled with joy of Christ and who could talk of nothing else,sat across from him in a stagecoach.Robinson. of course, would have chosen any other topic available. But he was a captive audience: he could not, obviously ,leap out of  a moving carriage.So he resigned himself to a discussion of spiritual matters.In those days,people used hymnals as devotional books, and this young woman had such a volume in her lap.She said,"Sir,I'd like your opinion of one of these hyms-one that has been such a powerful influence in my life ."And she handed the hymnal across to him.

Robinson looked at the page and found himself confronted by his own words.His throat ran dry and he could think of nothing to say.He tried to hand the book back to her.But the young lady persisted,assuming he must be as moved by the words to "Come Thou Fount" as she was.Maybe that was the reason for the sudden wetness in his eyes,the great tears sliding down his face.But slowly the realization dawned on her that she was looking into the face of a tortured soul.

Robinson saw that she knew the truth.He began to nod slowly,then the words finally followed:"I am the man who wrote that hymn",he said."Many years ago.I'd give anything to experience that joy again-anything".

The woman was shocked.She looked down at the page and saw the name of the poet who was sitting across from her: Robert Robinson.His life story was written in the ink below her,and his potrait was painted in the tears of the man before her.

The young lady pointed to the lines he knew so well.She began to speak gently about the"streams of mercy,never ceasing" that were still deep enough to drown his tears.She showed him there were no seasons too lengthy,no distance too great for the love of God to find him,comfort him,and bring him home again.

That day,Robert Robinson,broken and defeated,rediscovered the love he had left behind.I can imagine the joy he felt,because in my own life,that first love is everything.

If as a believer, your heart is prone to wander,if your well of devotion has run dry, if you have somehow, through the busyness of life and the maze of challenges and relationships, left your first love ..Jesus is waiting for you!!

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Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here 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
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
(Precious blood)

Oh, that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace

Come my Lord, no longer tarry
Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless days

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

 Prone one to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

Here's my heart
Oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

https://youtu.be/bpGFMuXshGE

**selected..The joy of intimacy with God..Bill Bright