I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is O For a Closer Walk With God from 1769.
O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus, and His Word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn
And drove Thee from my breast.
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
The author, William Cowper, is known for his chronic depression. He even attempted suicide. People often speak of how bad things were for them before they came to Christ and how much better everything is now. Things will be better in the next life, but things aren’t necessarily going to be better in this life.
I love the lyrics of this hymn. Like the ancient Psalms, it express our real emotions. We don’t need to “put on an act” before God or before others. So many experience a honeymoon period when they first commit their lives to Christ. But throughout our lives in this world, we might well have dark and difficult seasons, when God seems far away. I’ve never experienced really serious depression, but I know what it is to lose my appetite for life and for its joys. Sometimes that can happen during a physical illness, but it can also come out of nowhere. And whatever it is within us that causes that, also affects how we think about God. Our sense of hope diminishes. We’re living at a time where we have many more strategies for dealing with mental issues than in Cowper’s day. But we should still also bring all our problems to God. He isn’t necessarily going to work miracles for us. But it helps, and better still anything that draws us to reach out to God is a good thing.
There’s strong sense of sin in the hymn. And it’s true that depression can lower our self-esteem. Nowadays people might advise Cowper not to think of himself as a sinner. But we’re all sinners. We can have all sorts of distorted views of ourselves. But the key thing is that God loves us, and we should always reach out to him in a spirit of repentance and faith. And the final verse demonstrates the hope that Cowper had in Jesus in all his dark times.
Here are some other versions of today’s hymn:
Hibernia Gospel 