Learning From The Hymns series #2
My Faith Has Found A Resting Place
[Verse 1]
My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
[Chorus]
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.
[Verse 2]
Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul I come to Him,
He’ll never cast me out.
[Verse 3]
My heart is leaning on the Word,
The written Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior’s name,
Salvation through His blood.
[Verse 4]
My great Physician heals the sick,
The lost He came to save;
For me His precious blood He shed,
For me His life He gave.
About The Hymn
The tune is an old Norwegian folk melody and was published in 1891 by Eliza Hewitt under the pseudonym Lidie H. Edmunds. Eliza was a public school teacher. One of her students struck her with a heavy slate and she suffered a severe spinal injury which forced her to retire from teaching and made her an invalid the rest of her life in Philadelphia. However, she was able to continue to be involved with children in Sunday School and as superintendent at the Northern Home for Friendless Children. She also was used to write a number of hymns. We don’t know the specific story behind the writing of this hymn.
Lyrical Study
My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
When you live in a world with everything changing constantly, it is reassuring to have an anchor that is unchanging. What is quite scary is how things are changing in what we see as the Church of Jesus Christ today. Different denominations with different leanings in theology and doctrine, confusion about what ‘grace’ is and is not, etc. Any man whose faith is hinged on other men, no matter how ‘spiritual’ or how ‘able’ they may appear, is setting up himself for great disappointment because the ‘arm of flesh’ (and the systems of this world) shall fail. Check out Isaiah 31:1 in the New Living Translation for yourself and add to that this verse –
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
(Jeremiah 17:5, NLT)
The One we can safely put 100% trust in is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and He never fails.
Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul I come to Him,
He’ll never cast me out.
If you have experienced the saving power of Christ, it is easier to trust Him than someone who just mouths the clichés and ‘Christianese’. It is a real challenge when a person answers an altar call to ‘give their life to Christ’ on the basis that Jesus makes a person’s life easier or better; that He will provide all his/her needs (and wants); that he/she will be ‘lifted from the pit to the prison’; rather than because he/she realises and acknowledges that he/she is a sinner (having a sinful nature) and that Jesus died to give us His own sinless nature – to take us out of the kingdom of darkness (sin and death) and into the kingdom of light (of Christ). When the case is the former, true salvation is not likely to be experienced and such a person does not have a basis to put their trust in Christ. The one who knows (experientially) what Jesus did for and in him can trust Him.
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. (Romans 8:32-34, MSG)
My heart is leaning on the Word,
The written Word of God,
One of my daughters is named Dabeluchukwu which means ‘lean (heavily) on God’. Imagine leaning on something with all your weight such that if that thing is moved, you will undoubtedly fall to the ground. This, I believe, is how we are to lean on the Word of God – such that if it fails, we are done for. Yet the beauty of this dependency is that God’s Word (both written and spoken, for God still speaks to His children) CANNOT fail.
For no word from God will ever fail. (Luke 1:37, NIV)
As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, so also is my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to and prosper everywhere I send it. (Isaiah 55:10-11, TLB)
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:4, KJV)
Salvation by my Savior’s name,
Salvation through His blood.
I’ve once heard a pastor (who I believe went into heresy) state that there was nothing special about Jesus’ blood. What a statement! Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. See Matthew 26:28; Romans 3:25; Hebrews 9:22; Acts 10:43.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12, NIV)
My great Physician heals the sick,
The lost He came to save;
For me His precious blood He shed,
For me His life He gave.
When I look into Jesus’ heart (manifested by his words and actions), it is all about love – love for these creatures called human beings. When we make ‘church’ or our version of Christianity about anything other than human beings – loving them and leading them to salvation in its entirety, we have surely missed it somewhere.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.
It all comes down to this one truth: Jesus came to die FOR ME. Our God is a very personal God who loves us individually and saves us individually. He’s that amazing and awesome! When our relationship with God is personal, we are able to find rest in Him…..in His love for us.