Quicksilver - Frances Ridley Havergal

1836–79

This child was so clever, her father called her “Little Quicksilver.” Frances Ridley Havergal was reading at age three, memorizing the Bible at age four, and writing poetry at age seven. Poor health kept her from attending school on a regular basis, but her father (an Anglican minister) had a great library, so her homeschooling process was pretty thorough. She learned six or seven languages in her youth, plus biblical Greek and Hebrew.

It was an interesting time for British believers. Many were seeking a deeper knowledge of God—some through academic study, some through tradition, and others through emotional experiences. Frances had grown up as a good Anglican, and she made a personal commitment to Christ at the age of fourteen. This gave Frances something to write about. The rest of her life, she composed faith-filled poems, hymn texts, and even some tracts, in addition to the insightful letters she wrote to friends.

Commitment became a regular theme for Frances, especially in her hymns. In one of her best-known works she wrote the line, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” Consecration involves a complete devotion of one’s life—body, mind, money, time, etc. She also wrote “I Am Trusting Thee,” “Who Is on the Lord’s Side?,” and “I Gave My Life for Thee.” Each of these texts assumes a simple transaction—Jesus has given it all for us; we can trust him with everything.

Frances described her own songwriting in the same way. “I . . . feel like a little child writing,” she wrote in one letter. “You know a child would look up at every sentence and say ‘What shall I say next?’ That is just what I do; Every line and word and rhyme comes from God.” Elsewhere she said that she had to smile when people talked about how clever or gifted she was. “It is neither, but something really much nicer.”

She was talking about the process of writing God-directed songs from a God-directed life. When you’re trusting God to live through you, you can’t take credit for your own works, no matter how clever. You are the vessel for God’s amazing activity—and that is indeed “much nicer.”

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20