CW 817 Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart
When my wife and I were raising our sons, we would routinely tell them “I love you, but Jesus loves you most of all.” As great as a parent’s love is for a child or a child’s love is for a parent, there is no greater love than what Jesus has for us. Jesus’ love for us is evident by what he was willing to do for us. He even died a cruel death on a cross for us.
This hymn is a response to the love of Jesus. The Bible reminds us that we love because he first loved us. Because Jesus loves us most of all, we want to love Jesus most of all.
Verse 1a: Lord, thee I love with all my heart; I pray thee, ne’er from me depart, with tender mercy cheer me. Earth has no pleasure I would share; yea, heav’n itself were void and bare if thou, Lord, wert not near me.
Why would we need cheering up? Life does not always go as we plan. In fact, life can be difficult. It can especially be difficult as a Christian. Because we believe in Jesus, other people may reject us. And that is exactly why we continue to focus our attention on Jesus. There is no one and nothing that can cheer our burdened hearts like Jesus can. People without Jesus know that they are missing something, but they do not know what. If Jesus was not in our lives, we would be missing the one who can cheer our weary souls.
Verse 1b: And should my heart for sorrow break, my trust in thee can nothing shake. Thou art the portion I have sought; thy precious blood my soul has bought. Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord, forsake me not! I trust thy Word.
The man in the Bible named Job knew what it meant to have a broken heart. In one day, he lost all his wealth – his animals and the servants who cared for them. That was not the worst of it. That same day, his sons and daughters were dining together when the house they were in collapsed on them and they all died. Job was deeply hurt by this. Yet, he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be blessed.” (Job 1:21) May we learn to model Job’s trust in the Lord. This is not a baseless trust. Jesus spilled his holy precious blood to buy back our souls from eternal condemnation. We can trust everything he tells us in his Word!
Question: What things have you experienced that have shaken your trust in the Lord?
Verse 2a: Yea, Lord, ’twas thy rich bounty gave my body, soul, and all I have in this poor life of labor. Lord, grant that I in ev’ry place may glorify thy lavish grace and help and serve my neighbor.
Job knew that everything he had, came from the Lord – all his material blessings and all his spiritual blessings. And God is not skimpy with his blessings, especially the blessings for our souls. The hymnwriter echoes that truth by calling the Lord’s grace lavish. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines lavish as “expending or bestowing profusely.” The Lord is constantly giving
gifts of his grace in abundance. May it be our prayer that in response to this lavish grace, we help and serve our neighbor.
Question: In what ways can you help and serve your neighbor? Keep in mind that everyone is your neighbor.
Verse 2b: Let no false doctrine me beguile; let Satan not my soul defile. Give strength and patience unto me to bear my cross and follow thee. Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord, in death thy comfort still afford.
When we suffer, it is tempting for us to say something that God does not say. When Job lost his children and possessions, his friends came to him and told him that he must have done something wrong to deserve this. The friends did not know what they were talking about because God allowed Satan to bring this on Job precisely because, as the Bible says: “there was no one like him on the earth, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8) When we are suffering, Satan is also very ready to accuse us and to make us think that God does not care about us. It is then that we need our Lord to strengthen us so that we can patiently bear up under our cross and continue to follow him.
Question: What is the key to preventing you from spreading false doctrine?
Verse 3a: Lord, let at last thine angels come, to Abr’ham’s bosom bear me home that I may die unfearing; and in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until thy reappearing.
This verse is often sung at the Service of Darkness (or Tenebrae) on Good Friday when we recount Jesus’ death and burial. It is sung at that time to remind us of our own mortality. Each one of us will face death one day, but we can find comfort in what God’s Word says about it. In Luke 16, Jesus tells a story about a rich man and poor Lazarus. When Lazarus died, his soul was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. Abraham is known as the father of believers. Heaven is where the souls of all believers go when they die. What happens to the body at death? It is Jesus himself who assures us that death is like a peaceful sleep that we will one day wake up from. When will we awake? When Jesus reappears! What a comfort all this is as we bear our cross here on earth.
Verse 3b: And then from death awaken me that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, thy glorious face, my Savior and my fount of grace. Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend, and I will praise thee without end.
When is Christ coming back? He does not tell us the day or the hour. But we are confident that he will indeed return. When he does, he will raise up all who have died in him and bring them into his presence. Imagine what it will be like to see Jesus! We will want to praise him without end for bringing us there.
Question: When a person dies, people often do not know what to say to their loved ones. Based on this hymn verse (and really the entire hymn), what would you tell them?
This hymn is really a prayer written by a Christian man to our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of the hymn, he pleads that Jesus will pay attention to his prayer. When we are enduring a hardship because we follow Christ, we can turn to Jesus for help. You and I can be confident that whenever we pray to the Lord, he will listen to us. Why can we be so confident? Because Jesus loves us most of all!