If you are not signed up for Worship Quote of the Week, I recommend this free newsletter sent out by Carl Stam, worship lecturer at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He sends out a hymn text or thought about worship every week on Tuesday and I often find them uplifting and challenging. Check it out!
The text he mentioned today was written by Henri Malan in the nineteenth century, but has recently been given a face lift by Bob Kauflin with Sovereign Grace.
The text is especially poignant to Carl Stam who has been battling cancer for quite some time and is not sure how much longer God has for him on earth. This text encouraged me around the time of my Grandma's death two years ago and I am reminded of its hope-bringing truth as I think of my Grandpa's home going last fall. Death is no longer something to fear for the believer. It is not our final enemy, but that which conveys us to "wake in joy" before the throne of God and spend eternity with Him!
It Is Not Death to Die
It is not death to die,
To leave this weary road,
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God.
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears,
And wake in joy before Your throne,
Delivered from our fears,
CHORUS
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die
It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just,
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore.
You can listen to a free recording here.
What a precious hymn! It brings to mind a passage that I was thinking about a lot yesterday- 2 Cor 4, especially vv. 16-18: "Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Praise the Lord for our hope in Him!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting that. I was reminded a few days ago of Adoniram Judson as he approached death. One of this statements was that he felt like a school boy running off on holiday and leaving his books behind.
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