Before we get to this hymn, I am going to ask you to use your imagination a little.
Picture yourself in London, England in the late 1800′s. You are a teenager struggling with your faith. It is a cold, rainy night. You are lonely, walking home after work, asking God to have mercy on you.
You are walking along the Thames River and come to the Hungerford Bridge to cross. You pause for a moment on the bridge, and look over the side into the dark waters of the Thames River, and hear a voice inside your head say “Make an end to all this misery!!” Refusing to give into these dark voices, you ask yourself “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” and you answer and proclaim “I do believe with my whole heart.”
This is the true story behind this great hymn written by Samuel Trevor Francis in 1875. Mr. Francis was a London merchant who was passionate about hymn writing and open-air preaching. After this experience when he was a teenager,
Mr. Francis spent the next 73 years of his life in ministry. As you hear about the love of Jesus in this song, I hope you key in on the phrases regarding the water/river/ocean, and think back to what Mr. Francis probably was experiencing that cold, rainy, lonely night in London.
You are walking along the Thames River and come to the Hungerford Bridge to cross. You pause for a moment on the bridge, and look over the side into the dark waters of the Thames River, and hear a voice inside your head say “Make an end to all this misery!!” Refusing to give into these dark voices, you ask yourself “Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” and you answer and proclaim “I do believe with my whole heart.”
This is the true story behind this great hymn written by Samuel Trevor Francis in 1875. Mr. Francis was a London merchant who was passionate about hymn writing and open-air preaching. After this experience when he was a teenager,
Mr. Francis spent the next 73 years of his life in ministry. As you hear about the love of Jesus in this song, I hope you key in on the phrases regarding the water/river/ocean, and think back to what Mr. Francis probably was experiencing that cold, rainy, lonely night in London.
For those of you that are familiar with this tune, I hope the background story behind gives you more insight into the author’s mindset, and that it also paints a beautiful picture for you of God’s great love for His children.
Kaoma
Kaoma
