Come Thou Fount- David Crowder

March 23, 2011


It's going to be a long night, but a productive one. It's 11:26 p.m. and I'm just starting to chip away at my work. I'm going to take a break from the Psalms today, I just kind of want to talk about what was discussed in RUF, I'm still going to read Psalm 13, but I kind of want to just talk about what's on my heart too. Then I have a rather large amount of homework to get done.


Come Thou Fount/ Thoughts/ And a tie in of Psalm Thirteen 
Who doesn't love this song? And how long has it been around? Of course to answer these questions I am going to the most reliable source on the interweb, wikipedia, duh. It was written by Robert Robinson (real clever name, eh) who was a Gospel Pastor, in 1757. There's a story surrounding the song and its writer. Robert Robinson was a devout follower of Jesus, but as his life a pastor progressed he ran further and further from God. He wanted to start living his life for Robert and not for God, so he went to the place where he could live without any restraints...Gay Paree. 


Robert squandered away his life and love with bad choices and women of questionable morals, until one day he was riding around town with a woman. This woman could have been an employee of the red-light district or just a friend of Robert's. Either way she was humming the tune to "Come Thou Fount." At this point in his life, he thought he had gone pretty far from God, to the point that he was a lost cause. The woman asked him if he'd ever heard the song, he said that he was the one who had written it, and that he longed to be back in a position where that song could apply. The woman quoted "streams of mercy, never ceasing" and told Robert that His streams of mercy were still flowing and were in Paris just waiting on Robert to notice.


Now, mind you, this account may or may not be true, but it goes along with an important thing that I was able to rerealize; repentance is what our lives are defined as. I am definitely not going to take any of the credit for the words that will follow, so thank you Matt and thank You, God, for speaking to me everyday in so many ways.


Thoughts...
There are a lot of things that are out of my control, but control is something I think we all struggle and strive for. Over the littlest things, whatever we can. I think, for me, it's an effort to save myself. If I decide to do things my way, at least I am the one who is to blame. I messed up, I didn't do the right thing, I'm the one who has to fix whatever. There's a lot of me in those assumptions and not a lot of God.  It's by He, and He alone that I am here and that I am saved. If I was the one in charge of salvation I, for the lack of a better term, would be screwed. I think the more I make attempts at "fixing" things, just make things worse. 


Thank goodness for a savior. I heard that "Sin is man (Annie-Grace) substituting himself (myself) for God" and "Salvation is God substituting Himself for man (Annie-Grace)"...umm WOW. The control I take over my life is me telling God that "Hey, I can figure this out a little better than You can." Which, I can honestly say, could be no further from the truth. I am so glad that I have a Savior whose affections never alter in fervor. I am I letting Him be the Lord of my life? I sure hope so. 


I think it goes back to what I wrote about a couple days ago, do I believe that Jesus is who He says He is? If I do, how would that manifest itself in my life? What would I look like? I realize we have responsibilities, but we are not the makers and perfecters of our salvation, He is. And how much pressure does that relieve? A TON! I can be 100% secure in the fact that my life is with Him, that out of His love and goodness He died for me. Knowing that I mess up...a significant amount. That kind of love, unconditional, is hard to comprehend, but I want to take hold of it. 


Living a life in that love can completely change how I view Him and my faith. Matt said something tonight that really struck a chord, "I am not obedient to be saved, but my obedience is PROOF I am saved."So, my repentance is not out of guilt, but out of knowing that I will be accepted back into His arms, every. single. time.


God, I want to love You like this, and hold onto the fact that You love me like this. I want to thank You for always having Your ams wide, wide open when I come running home.


Psalm 13: 5-6 (NLT)
⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
      I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
 ⁶ I will sing to the Lord
      because he is good to me


Come Thou Fount