“Tune my heart to sing Thy grace…” Over and over again, this is my prayer.
The words of a familiar hymn speak renewal and refreshment to me. They never get old, NEVER: “Come Thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace…”
Sometimes I pick up my guitar and notice, it’s not quite right. So I immediately start to put it in ‘tune’. My own life gets out of tune- my thought life and my attitudes begin to smell… I mean sound bad, and then I am desperately in need of ‘The Master Player’ to intervene.
This kind of tuning, that I so desperately need is found in a most special place. It’s found at the cross, it’s found where the blood of the Lamb was poured out and the Living Bread was broken. Can I go to the communion table, even now? Perhaps the answer is “Yes”, as I simply worship wherever I am, in whatever state I am in, even empty or full.
In order to ‘tune an instrument’ one must STOP and do the mechanics! When my life feels ‘out of tune’, I pray, “God, make me STOP, make me STILL – for a moment- to acknowledge YOU. With all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, may I bring a HALT to the ‘clamor’ and bring into focus: ‘the fount’ that covers me, that has washed away my sin. “Come Thou fount of every blessing…”
” tune my heart to sing Thy grace.”Yes, that’s the song I need. The song that remembers the words of my Lord: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power if perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I need to put my eyes on His word, to straighten up my thoughts and mind and calm my emotions, I need to remember Him and His words to me, personally: “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that you can confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (HEBREWS 13:5,6).
If my eyes weren’t on the words, I would never have known that the words are actually written in ALL CAPS in the NASB!… “Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.”
What a blessing to come and take the bread and know that the ‘Bread of Life’ willingly became broken for me so that I could be whole. The tuning has been perfected in me when I see how gracious my Lord has been toward me, ‘in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly,’ (Romans 5:8). What a gracious God He is. It is unearned favor He lavishes on me, just because He loves me so completely.
This makes me think of Noah, who lived in a godless time. And he had a hard job to do, accomplishing all that God had asked and with specific directions, with only his family ‘on board’ to help, so to speak! No converts, people doing what was right in their own eyes, truly an evil day – but it is recorded for all the world to see, what was different about Noah,
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Gen.6:8.
And that is what God does in this hymn for me, as I ask God,
“Come Lord, help me to remember that ‘fount of every blessing’ that covers and even washes away all the places in the deep recesses of my heart and mind that are out of tune, and remind me of Your gracious love for me. O, how You love me Lord. You don’t see all that ‘stuff’ that I see. All that ‘stuff’ was put on Jesus on that tree of Calvary.
Just as in the Song of Solomon when the Shulamite spoke to her love, (or in other words, how we often speak to the Lord,) “Do not look upon me, because I am dark,” Song of Solomon 1:6. (dark with sin), “because the sun has tanned me,” (this world of tribulations and trouble)…” But we have to remember, He doesn’t see the sin because of the ‘fount of every blessing’ shed for us – this is the response of the Beloved:
“Behold you are fair, my love! Behold you are fair!”
It is at His table where He tunes my heart to sing His grace and once again I find myself singing because ‘streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise!’ And the words to my praise as I leave the table of meditation in my heart, an old children’s song,
“I am my Beloved’s and He is mine, His banner over me is love!”
So now I’m all tuned; renewed and restored, miraculously refreshed -all because God spoke to me today in a hymn. So my prayer for today?
“Lord, just keep us in tune for a song this moment! Keep us in tune for Your song tonight, Keep me in tune Lord, when my heart is tired and weary, may I raise my Ebeniezer with my weakness and acknowledge Your Grace is all I need. I love you Jesus, You are my Rock and my Song – keep me in tune Lord, keep me in tune- and when I am ‘way out’, make me ‘Be Still and Know, YOU are God! in Jesus name, AMEN!”
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