Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?
Was it for sins that I have done
He suffered on the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut His glories in,
When Christ, the great Redeemer, died
For man the creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away—
’Tis all that I can do.
WE NEVER KNOW how deeply our actions affect the lives of others. This hymn by Isaac Watts has certainly touched the hearts of millions through the centuries. After drawing the stark contrasts between the sacrificial death of the mighty Maker and the unworthiness of the sinful creature, he concludes with the consecration, “Here, Lord, I give myself away—’tis all that I can do.”
A thirty-year-old blind woman heard a revival choir sing this simple hymn. Stanza after stanza stirred her heart, but when the choir came to the final line, “Here, Lord, I give myself away,” she gave herself away to the Lord as well. That blind woman was Fanny Crosby, who went on to become the greatest writer of gospel songs in the past century. We never know how deeply our lives will touch the lives of others.
He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6
From the book
