A blind woman could see much more than most of us dream. She couldn’t see color, or line, or form, but she had eyes to see the Lord.
Her heart would write scores of words to increase our vision and understanding of the Lord.
Fanny Crosby teaches devotion to God as we open old hymns and speak them and sing.
We weep on earth when loved ones pass, but in the LORD, hope continues on. Saved by Grace, 1891, Fanny’s chorus repeats confident and strong:
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace.
Who is He that she longs to see. Our hearts long to read on and hear her words because we are born into this broken world, and in the midst of happy moments and and fun and life, there are great hurts. Great losses threaten to shadow all delight.
But God, He’s there. He asks quietly, “Do you believe?”
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit,” John 3:5-9.
With God, at times it seems all mystery. But Fanny writes of her Lord to show us the end before the beginning:
Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!
This is hope. What does it all mean? Does God put this hunger in us all that we search for answers that we might see and know?
Some day my earthly house will fall,
I cannot tell how soon ’twill be;
But this I know-—my All in All
Has now a place in heav’n for me.
Can I know? Without a doubt? How can I know that I will see the Lord face to face. How could Fanny write with such confidence of God’s grace?
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace.
We are born as a baby, but before our death, is there a birth that must take place? Is this the meaning of this mystery?
A day in our life, either early or late, we must look up to Jesus, God’s Son Whom He has sent. A second birth? It is on that day, we look up and choose to say, “I believe in all You did for me on the cross.”
“Take my sin and all my misery. Empty me that I might be filled with You. Give me new life today. Fill me with Your Spirit now, and for every day.”
Then the chorus Fanny wrote will be our song of hope that we sing with heart’s strong.
Some day, when fades the golden sun
Beneath the rosy-tinted west,
My blessed Lord will say, “Well done!”
And I shall enter into rest.
All because of the grace of God through Jesus.
Fanny wrote, that years later I could remain confident and sing until the very end:
Some day: till then I’ll watch and wait,
My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,
That when my Savior opes the gate,
My soul to Him may take its flight.
Amen, Amen. Fanny would have us speak joyfully her chorus again:
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—-Saved by grace.