PRONE TO WANDER

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Come, Thou Fount

Robert Robinson 1735-1790

 

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing they 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 they redeeming love!

 

Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandring from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

 

O to grace how great a debtor,

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandring heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for thy courts above.

 

The above song is a beloved hymn written in the 1700’s by Robert Robinson. Robert was born a commoner in Swaffham, Norfolk, England in 1735. His father passed away when he was eight years old and at age fourteen his mother sent him off to London to learn the trade of barbering. Unfortunately he became involved with a local gang and lived a horribly sinful life. When he was seventeen he went with some of his friends to a meeting where George Whitfield was preaching. Their purpose in attending this church meeting was to make fun and disrupt the gathering of Christians. Whitfield’s Spirit-led evangelistic preaching proved too much for the young Robinson and he accepted Christ as his Savior. Some years later Robert was convinced that he should go into the ministry. He became a Methodist minister and later upon moving to Cambridge became a minister in a Baptist church. He became known as a very capable theologian and hymn writer.

 

The hymn “Come, Thou Fount” came to reflect his own life in later years for he wandered from the faith took up old sinful habits and even became involved in the false teachings of Unitarianism. There is a story told that one day Robinson was riding in a stagecoach with a woman who was reading a hymnbook. She was humming a particular favorite hymn of hers and asked what he thought of it. Robinson burst into tears and replied, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

 

Possibly if we analyze the song we can understand what prompted Robinson to weep upon hearing his own Spirit-inspired hymn? Possibly we may ourselves see reason to avoid wandering away from the truth and the love of our Lord?

 

The first verse speaks of a “Fount of every blessing.” What Fount filled with pure grace is full of streams of mercy? Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior comes to my mind. Jesus spoke in John 7 of the streams of living water that proceed from those who believe in Him. Jesus is the bread of life and like with the woman at the well in John 4 He offers us living water for our thirsty soul. A request is made in the next line, “Tune my heart to sing they grace.” This petition is very likely for the Holy Spirit to impress upon the singer the need to be in sync with the heart and mind of God. When we humble ourselves before our Savior we desire for Him to enable us to be in tune with the Holy Spirit so that we might live for Him and serve others in His name. Such a spiritual experience would lead anyone to relate to the next words in verse one, “Call for songs of loudest praise.” This reflects the emotions of celebration that are a response to God for His love and grace bestowed upon poor sinners. Again there is a request to be taught a “melodious sonnet” a beautiful song with deep meaning like those sung with “flaming tongues above.” Can this be a reference to Spirit-led and Spirit-filled worship sung in numerous languages like that of Pentecost? At Pentecost a manifestation of flaming tongues of fire appeared above the heads of those who spoke to all those present in their native. Whatever the intent, there is definitely a desire to give all honor and praise to God. The centrality of God’s love and grace in the life of the believer are spoken of in the words, “Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of they redeeming love!” The one assurance we have as followers of Christ is His unfailing love for us. We must fix ourselves upon the foundation of His love and rest in His grace that was provided at the cross. This is the foundation of our ability to call ourselves a child of the Most High God.

 

The second verse begins with some strange words, “Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by thy help I’m come.” These words reference a verse in 1 Samuel 7:12 where Samuel set up a stone to memorialize the help that Israel received from the Lord during a battle with the Philistines. He called it Ebenezer or “Stone of Help.” Robinson apparently recognized the necessity of a believer to moment by moment recognize the help that God provides to continue on the path of righteousness. In the next line, “And I hope, by thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.” there is the expressed hope that by God’s will the believer will reach his or her heavenly home. The next lines in verse two speak of the memories of being lost in sin and being found and rescued by Jesus Christ, “Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandring from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.” Before people are saved, whether they know it or not, they are wandering without direction and are in great danger. Only with the intervention of Christ our Lord can such nomadic souls find hope and safety from the demonic powers that inhabit this world and the consequences of their sins.

 

The last verse brings home the daily struggle we have with our flesh. The words, “O to grace how great a debtor. Daily I’m constrained to be!” imply that we are in debt to grace, but we must understand that Robinson very likely did not mean that we were in debt to grace, but that we may feel a deep commitment to serve our Lord out of the thankful love we have for His free gift of salvation. If we consistently and continually realize the action of grace in our lives each day, we respond with a commitment to Jesus in how we behave for obedience to God is a manifestation of our love for Him. The next words clarify this intent for they speak of patterning our lives after our Heavenly Father. “Let thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandring heart to thee.” Here Robinson pleads that the knowledge of the goodness of God will impress itself upon each of our hearts so that it will be like a leash that will restrain us from wandering away from the faith. Many of us view the Christian life as a list of do’s and don’ts, but here there is sound teaching that the Christian’s life is patterned after His Father in heaven. We are called to be good like God and we achieve this when we model ourselves after our Lord Jesus Christ and as we allow the Holy Spirit to direct our paths according to God’s Word. If the story of Robinson’s conversation with the woman in the stagecoach is true, how penetrating the following words must have been when he remembered them in his sin, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” Confronted by his wandering heart through his own words in song Robinson must have truly been convicted of his wanderings away from the God he once loved. But we’re all prone to wander and prone to leave the God we love. When we seek to serve our flesh and our selfish desires we stray from the truth and the experience of the goodness of God. We forget the Ebinezers, the stones of help, that God has given us to overcome the struggles in life. We climb off the Mount of Grace and Love that we were once fixed upon. We cease to hear the flaming voice of the Spirit as He sings spiritual songs in our heart of praise to our Lord and Savior. Our heart wanders from the truth and we are on dangerous ground. What do we do to prevent such horrible rebellious actions? We listen to the last words of Robinson’s hymn. “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above.” We allow God to seal our heart daily with His Spirit. We submit to the Spirit. We bow in obedience to God’s Word. We humble ourselves before our Lord and Master.

 

James 5:19‑20

“My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

 

 

2 Corinthians 1:21‑22

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”