The Final Refrain

Psalm 73:25-28

25Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth.

26My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever.

27But those who desert him will perish,

for you destroy those who abandon you.

28But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

Charles Wesley wrote more than seven thousand hymns in his life. If you wrote a hymn a day, you’d have to work for twenty years to match that output. And face it, some gems like “And Can It Be?” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” might take two or three days at least. Most Protestant hymnals have dozens of Wesley’s hymns. But his last one is little known.

Wesley loved the Psalms, both as inspiration for his hymns and for personal comfort. As he lay on his deathbed at the age of eighty, Wesley was mulling over Psalm 73. Calling his wife to his side, he dictated the lines of his last hymn:

In age and feebleness extreme,

What shall a sinful worm redeem?

Jesus, my only hope thou art,

Strength of my failing flesh and heart;

O, could I catch a smile from thee,

And drop into eternity!

Asaph, the author of this psalm, was no mean hymn writer himself. People think of the Psalms as David’s book, but Asaph wrote about twelve of them as well. In Psalm 73 he is going through the wringer emotionally, but he comes out with a stronger faith in God. Through all the pain and doubting, he still desired God more than anything on earth. No doubt Charles Wesley couldn’t have agreed more.

That, having all things done,

And all your conflicts past,

Ye may o’ercome, through Christ alone,

And stand complete at last.

CHARLES WESLEY

Bible Networking

Other people in Scripture have wrestled with Asaph’s question about the wicked and learned the same answer that he did in verse 25. Read Job 42:1-6.

Notable Quotable

“The Epicurean, says Augustine, is apt to say, ‘It is good for me to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.’ The Stoic is apt to say, ‘For me it is good to enjoy the pleasures of the mind.’ The Apostle says, ‘It is good for me to cleave to God.’ ”

LORINUS