O For A Heart To Praise My God
O for a Heart to Praise My God
O for a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free,
A heart that always feels Thy blood
So freely shed for me;
A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone;
A humble, lowly, contrite heart,
Believing, true, and clean,
Which neither life nor death can part
From Him that dwells within;
A heart in every thought renewed
And full of love divine,
Perfect and right and pure and good,
A copy, Lord, of Thine:
Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart;
Come quickly from above;
Write Thy new name upon my heart,
Thy new, best name of Love.
IT IS NOT SURPRISING that John and Charles Wesley should be concerned about the human heart. After all, they had gone through the motions of a heartless Christianity for years. It was not enough, they discovered, for a person to be religious, moral, and orthodox. They had been all that—as ordained clergymen, they knew the gospel well. But their hearts still had to be changed by an encounter with God’s Word. Suddenly John saw the necessity of a personal faith that would change the heart.
This hymn, written by Charles Wesley less than four years after his conversion, is based on Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” He knew as well as anybody that that was the only way he could truly be what God wanted him to be.
I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 11:19-20
From the book
