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 He will Hold Me Fast from 1906.
When I fear my faith will fail
Christ will hold me fast
When the tempter would prevail
He will hold me fast
I could never keep my hold
Through life's fearful path
For my love is often cold
He must hold me fast
He will hold me fast
He will hold me fast
For my Savior loves me so
He will hold me fast
Those He saves are His delight
Christ will hold me fast
Precious in His holy sight
He will hold me fast
He'll not let my soul be lost
His promises shall last
Bought by Him at such a cost
He will hold me fast
For my life He bled and died
Christ will hold me fast
Justice has been satisfied
He will hold me fast
Raised with Him to endless life
He will hold me fast
Till our faith is turned to sight
When he comes at last
I never remember singing this one, though it goes all the way back to 1906. I think I probably became familiar with it through Sounds Sacred, a BBC Radio Ulster hymn programme, which I listen to at 5pm each Sunday. Keith and Kristyn Getty have a popular version of it.
So, what’s meant by “He will hold me fast”? I assume it’s based on a verse from the King James version of the Bible. Let me look it up:
Psalm 139:7-10
7Â Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8Â If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9Â If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10Â Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
But what’s meant by “fast”? Well I think of “fastening my safety belt” – maybe it means tight 😀 – so “He will hold me tight”.
In August 1980, on the night that I committed my life to Christ, I went along to a church. I remember chatting to someone. I said, if I stop coming and you see me in the street, please come and ask me to recommit my life to Christ. The guy said, “you shouldn’t assume that that’ll happen”. And he was correct. That’s 45 years ago now. It’s true that I’ve attended various churches. I’ve been involved in different evangelical scenes and into different preachers and schools of thought. But I’ve never abandoned Jesus Himself. And I put that down to Him rather than to me:
John 10:27-28
27Â My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28Â And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 11Â If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Matthew 14:30-31 (When Peter walked on the water towards Jesus)
30Â But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31Â And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Philippians 1:6
6Â Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
What about those who appear to abandon the faith? I can think of three explanations.
- People of the Armenian theological perspective believe that a person can be a genuine believer and yet abandon the faith. They say that it’s rare, but it’s not impossible. And you can find verses that warn against this.
- People like myself, who are Calvinistic in theological terms, would argue that such people weren’t genuine believers. If they had been, they wouldn’t have abandoned the faith. They might have just been looking for friends in church or some quick fix for their earthly problems or whatever. Then, they gave up when things didn’t turn out as pleasant as they hoped.
- My personal view is that many who seem to abandon the faith simply stop going to church. Someone might have upset them. They’re happy to have people classify them as non-believers because they don’t want to be pestered. My hope is that they still have a personal relationship with Christ. And I also hope that they’d find a church that they’re happy with and learn to put up with people who might say something that might annoy them. Some people want a perfect church, but you won’t get that until heaven. It’s Jesus who you’re following. Church life is just for mutual encouragement. Like any relationships, it does involve a degree of commitment, and it can have its ups and downs.
So, if you genuinely trust in Jesus, He will hold you tight – or fast, even if you don’t want a church having too tight a grip on you. Still, it’s nice to encourage others. And I think it’s important for churches to allow people the freedom to choose how involved to get. Any group of people with strong convictions, even a little knitting group or whatever, can be controlling at times. I see more trouble between people in evangelical churches than I did in the Roman Catholic Church. But in the Roman Catholic Church, most of us never really got involved with people. We just went and endured the Mass every Sunday because it was expected of us. But I would think that if you got more deeply involved, you’d have the same sorts of disputes that you’d see in any group of committed people. Likewise, in politics, back in the days when I was ultra-left wing, we’d have all sorts of little communist parties and factions arguing with one another in contrast to the mainstream Labour party. But I suppose you even get disputes in the larger parties too. But you get many more when you have people with strong vision and commitment. You see that throughout the New Testament church, which is why there are so many appeals to love one another.
Anyway, here are some other versions of today’s song:
Hibernia Gospel 