Come home, come home,I flipped open my hymn book this evening and chanced upon this hymn called "Softly and Tenderly". It brought me to reminisce the time when I was still back in Medan.
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!
I grew up going to an English-speaking Methodist church and hymns from the Methodist Hymnal were sung every Sunday. I used to sing hymns loudly, maybe because I was proud that I could sing the notes correctly (thanks to piano lessons... -_-"). I did not exactly like them, some being boring and generally I perceived most as too traditional for me. However, some did catch my attention, like this one. I loved the tune it came with. And somehow, I liked the word "tender" and "earnest".
I love the tune to this hymn, but I guess I like the meaning of the songs even more.
I think the late world-renowned preacher, D. L. Moody agrees with me. On his deathbed, he took Will Thompson, the poet-composer by the hand, and said, “Will, I would rather have written “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.”
When I sung this hymn, I notice a pattern, probably what Thompson was trying to convey.
The first verse goes :
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
This paragraph contains a statement, how Jesus is waiting at the entrance, 'portals', watching for us, calling us, the lost ones. And it is a fact that we should know. I guess, here Thompson is trying to provide us with a fact that most of us sometimes forget when we get so engrossed and caught up with worldly and temporary things and lose our focus on what is actually eternal.
The second verse :
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?
I think this second verse is rather powerful, especially with the questions asked. It moves on from giving us statements in the first verse to posing us with questions. It's somewhat like why are you doubting my first statement? Why should we wait when the King, the Most High One is requesting for us? wanting us? Why are we looking for momentary comfort, and delay ourselves from achieving the eternal one, when we need not even have to put in effort to look for it. The ageless comfort Himself is pleading for us with His loving mercies. I guess it's kinda true that it's human nature to make things more complicated. Something so precious, so important yet so simple, so effortless, so right-in-front-of-you. Yet we miss that out because we are too busy waiting and looking for those that are more logical, more rational according to us, to what our minds want. Aren't we just making our lives more difficult. Isn't life difficult enough?
The third one :
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.
Again, he gives us statement of what is going on and what will be going on. Those that according to the 2nd verse is waiting and lingering should wake up to the fact that when they are idle, time keeps going on. And of course, death 'that scary thing', is nearing.
The fourth one goes like this :
O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.
Now, he puts an exclamation mark there. I guess it's like a wake up call for us or probably something to affirm us more. After making a scary statement at the 3rd verse,he affirms us , as if saying 'Don't worry! there's nothing to be feared of because in Him, there is Hope'. He's the Most High One, His power exceeds anything we know of or even what our small and limited mind can think of. So shadows and deathbeds are scary? Even Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:55-56 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
He has promised and it will never fail. And it is indeed wonderful. Why do you think He is softly and tenderly calling? Just look at his nail-pierced hands.
I am reminded of the parable of the lost son at this point. Jesus, like the father kept waiting for us to come home and rejoices, honors and even come towards them when the lost ones return. Seriously, I do not think I would even do what the father in the parable did if my son did all those to me. It is beyond what I can do and what my conscience allows me to do. It is just too difficult for me to understand. But indeed, God's grace is unfathomable. That's how deep His love is for sinners.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
John 15:13
In the beginning, the prodigal son thought he will be free without the father, didn't he? Didn't he in the end find out how mistaken he is. That is exactly how limited our mind is if we do not turn our eyes on the cross, on Him. We build our own definition of freedom in our minds, "wild freedom" which in the end give rise to consequences which restrict us. How contradicting yet true. Personally, I learnt to start from God. What is the type of freedom that God has? The only way to achieve true freedom is to have a freedom like God's. According to Pak Tong, our God is a God who limits Himself at His own will. That, then is the true freedom. Unlike the uncontrollable freedom of the evil ones possess.
There will be no end to this post if I do not stop myself.
Signing off!
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