O Jesus I have promised to serve Thee to the end
Be thou forever near me my Master and my Friend.
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side
Nor wander from the pathway if thou wilt be my guide.
Author J E Bode (1816-74)
Songs written about relationships are plentiful in the music industry and the range of hymns available for worship of God equips us to verbalise our love for God and to hear the echo of God’s love for us. I am sure we can all remember special songs that resonate with us for different reasons and often it is the combination of a tune and lyrics of commitment in songs that touches our heart. Singing is good for us in so many ways whether we can hold a tune or not. It is the physicality of breathing in and breathing out, of creating sound and when we do it together in corporate worship, it reminds us of our common purpose of praising God as the people of God.
This hymn, when sung aloud, because of its jaunty responsive tune (it must have a technical term!) gives the impression to me of being on a journey. Its lyrics verbalise a commitment to God and God’s commitment to us. In singing this hymn we remind ourselves of the covenant we have with God -‘O Jesus I have promised to serve’ so ‘let me hear Thee speaking’. Because we believe Jesus has promised to lead we have decided to follow and so this could be a wedding song replete with vows as it is.
You may notice through the words of the hymn as we declare our intention to serve, or to hear, that the accompanying lines are a statement of faith in the commitment of Jesus to respond. That is what the Christian walk is about - trusting Jesus to accompany us through the thick and thin of life’s many experiences as we follow Him. Whatever we are each going through today remember that Jesus is there with us and that because He is then we are more than conquerors over whatever threatens to overwhelm us. My Grace is sufficient for you wherever you are at.
The hymn has five verses which we could look at but for brevity’s sake let’s focus on verse three.
O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still
Above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self-will
O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control
O speak and make me listen Thou guardian of my soul.
Our pilgrimage has many twists and turns and our commitment is often tested by ‘storms of passion’ - sometimes our own or passions evoked as we ride the waves of others peoples’ storms. Above the noise of such storms, we can strain to hear the voice of the guardian of our soul. But Jesus’ voice can also be drowned out because we are listening to ‘the murmurs of self-will‘, even while obeying God we can be thinking ‘thanks God for pointing the way but I’ve got it from here!’
Even in voicing these impediments to hearing Jesus speak ‘in accents clear and still’, the hymn-writer remains positive about the follower’s faith in the faithfulness of God who never strays from his covenant to us. ‘O let me hear Thee speaking‘ is directed at the One to whom we have freely given the guardianship of our soul. We implore our guardian, ‘O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control’ so here we are asking God to affirm the plan and to set the pace. We all know how easy it is to drag our heels or race ahead once we have heard God’s voice. ‘O speak and make me listen’ is giving God permission to set the pace most appropriate so we may be able to complete the task.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, as we continue to follow your leading, teach us to allow space in our journey to hear your ‘accent loud and clear’ directing our every step. We acknowledge our love for you and your love for us and that we are on this adventure together. Help us to be attentive to your fine-tuning even if it means we may have to make adjustments to some plans. ‘O speak and make me listen’ because without you we will stray. But with you, in whatever we are called to do or to be, we can be assured that in fulfilling our vows of commitment, then Jesus also promises to be with us and for that we raise our voices in praise this day. Amen.
Elisabeth Sweeney Smith
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