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 in-between hymns.
Today’s song is Purify My Heart from 1990.
This one’s from 1990, my first full year in fulltime Christian work, and probably the happiest of the nine or so years that I spent in fulltime Christian work. That was the year that I fell in love with all the old hymns, so I wouldn’t have taken any interest in the modern ones. I only discovered this one in the mid 2010s. I used to think of all the new ones as superficial, but this hymn isn’t superficial. It’s a deeply spiritual hymn that encourages us to long for holiness.
Back in 1990, in my circles, you’d hear much negativity about the movements associated with new worship songs. That still goes on. For example, if I search for Hillsong in YouTube, I’ll find various videos about scandals. But I would think that you’ll get flaws in all organizations, including religious organizations. Any organizations that include humans is probably going to include bad apples – or bad humans. I don’t know why we call them bad apples 😀.
You even see that in the New Testament church. When the Apostle Paul writes to the churches, he often commends them, but he’ll also take them to task over character flaws, and he was quite happy to name individuals who went astray, even in relation to minor things like deserting him when he needed them. And I’m all for implementing all kinds of safeguarding measures.
But we shouldn’t forget that you also get some wonderful people in such movements. And likewise, I’ve spent most of my Christian life listening to sermons on tape or online. There was a time when I wanted to stick with people that I perfectly agreed with all the time. But nowadays, that isn’t as important. I’ll disagree with some of their points, but I just like people who provoke me to love God and dig into the Scripture – and it’s the same with hymns. You don’t hear much scandals about the great historical evangelical figures and hymnwriters, but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t have flawed characters. Ultimately, it’ll be God who does the judging.
Anyway, this hymn is partly based on the following verse, which is an Old Testament prophecy predicting the arrival of John the Baptist, followed by the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Malachi 3:1-4
3 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says Yahweh of Armies. 2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap; 3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh as in the days of old and as in ancient years.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter uses gold refining as an illustration:
1 Peter 1:6-7
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
So the message is that we welcome God’s work in us, even when it’s painful. He’s purifying our hearts and helping is to become more holy and heavenly minded.
It’s nice to see that today’s hymn is still popular. Here are some other performances:
Hibernia Gospel 