Another hymn story and song to glorify Jesus!
- Spend a few minutes praying to God and quieting your heart.
- Listen to the song one time (I’ll give a link to versions I enjoy),
- Read through the blurb about the author then listen to it again.
- Pass it on: if a song particularly resonates with you and helps you engage with God, share it with someone else and tell them why it’s been meaningful and which parts you like.
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
Author: George Matheson, 1842-1906
Composer: Albert L. Peace, 1844-1912
Version: Chris Rice
O Love that wilt not let me go / I rest my weary soul in Thee…
George Matheson was born in Scotland in 1842 with partial eyesight. At the age of 20 he went totally blind, but nevertheless completed both University and Seminary and became pastor of a 2,000 person church in 1886. Caring for such a large church while blind would have been impossible if it wasn’t for a talented and devoted sister who both attended to his physical needs and helped him in his theological studies, even to the point of learning Greek, Latin, and Hebrew herself. He was well known for his eloquence in preaching, but none of it would have been possible without the dedication and sacrifice of his sister, who he greatly loved and leaned upon.
When he turned forty, his sister was engaged to be married. This was devastating to Matheson since he depended on her for everything and knew marriage would greatly change their relationship. He would have to find someone else to take care of him, and knew how much he would miss her constant presence and support. Moreover, his sister’s marriage brought up painful memories. Much earlier in his life he was engaged to be married before going off to university. As his vision worsened, doctors informed him and his fiancée that he would soon be completely blind. Faced with the uncertainty of caring for a blind man, the fiancée made the difficult decision to break off the marriage. With his sister’s marriage a painful reminder of his broken divorce, Matheson was in turmoil.
It was out of this intense collision of pain and despair that George Matheson penned this song. In his later recollection of writing the hymn he says that it was spoken to him whole rather than written: “I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes…All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.”[1] The song was a gift from God, speaking reassurance and encouragement to Matheson at the very moment he needed it most. It came like the dayspring, a morning light to dispel his darkness. The closing lines testify to how Christ transformed Matheson’s suffering and pain into hope and beauty: “I lay in dust, life’s glory dead / that from the ground there blossoms red / Life that shall endless be.” Despite his sight and his fiancée leaving him, though his beloved sister could no longer care for him, Matheson’s Savior was faithful to the end, a steadfast love that would never leave him alone.
Works Cited
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Matheson
101 Hymn Stories, Kenneth W. Osbeck
[1] Osbeck pg. 190