Today I need a big dose of Dr. George Matheson.
Matheson, a preacher who would in mid life lose his sight, as well as his fiancee upon learning of his impending blindness, wrote these lyrics out of the midst of pain, hurt and sorrow.  Yet it speaks of an eternal love that never lets go…a God who constantly pursues us even when we don’t pursue God and things of God.  This one of those songs that while we have all the lyrics, I’ve rarely been in a place where all verses are sung.  When sung in its entirety, it weaves together a beautiful tapestry of lament that points to a God who never lets go.  Here are the original words , some of which we’ve updated in our hymnbooks with time.

O love that wilt not let me go
I rest my weary soul on Thee
I give Thee back the life I owe
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be

O joy that seekest me thro’ pain
I cannot close my heart to Thee
I trace the rainbow thro’ the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be

O cross that liftest up my head
I dare not ask to hide from Thee
I lay in dust life’s glory dead
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be

O light that foll’west all my way
I yield my flick’ring torch to Thee
My heart restores its borrowed ray
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter fairer be