In keeping with the "your choice" theme, this blog will feature the same hymns.
I'm indebted to the late Rev. Dr. Cecil Kirk for the content of these essays and to his wife, Edna, for sharing them with us. Here's one we sang last summer that is a perennial favourite.
Scripture reading: Joshua 3. 1 - 17
There is no more thrilling sound than that of fifty thousand Welsh rugby fans cheering on the national team at Cardiff Arms Park, not with shouts, but by singing Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch (Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah) in their native tongue. The hymn has almost the status of a second national anthem. It is the work of William Williams who was born in Llandovery in Carmarthenshire. He was twenty years old and training for the medical profession when he heard a sermon by Howell Harris, the leader of the evangelical revival in Wales, and was converted. He was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church by the Bishop of St. David's but three years later he left to become a minister in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church. Rather than ministering to a settled congregation he took the whole of Wales as his parish, becoming an itinerant evangelist. During the next forty-three years he travelled almost 100,000 miles on foot and horseback preaching the gospel.
As with so many other hymns, the imagery is taken from the Biblical story of the Israelites' journey to the promised land. We are reminded of the fact that the Christian life is a pilgrimage that has a definite goal in mind. The pilgrim life is a progressive experience. The Christian pilgrim is not someone who settles down comfortably in the present world as though it were a place of permanent residence. We are here but for a time and not for ever. That means that we must have a sense of detachment from the world and the things of the world. While there may be many interesting and worthwhile things on earth we know that there are better things in store for us in the heavenly country to which we journey.
In order to travel wisely and safely we ask for divine guidance. We are moving through a "barren land" like the wilderness traversed by the Israelites and as they needed to be guarded and guided so do we. We also need nourishment for the journey, hence the prayer for the "Bread of heaven". That bread for the Hebrews was the heavenly manna. Jesus claimed to be the living bread, the heavenly bread, (John 6. 41) and it is that bread we pray for in the words "feed me till my want is o'er". And not only were the Israelites hungry, they were also thirsty and cried to Moses for help. He in turn cried to the Lord who provided water, a "crystal fountain" to quench their thirst (Ex. 17. 6). Jesus invites us, in our spiritual need to come to him and drink, assuring us that if we drink of the water he gives we will never thirst again (John 7. 37; 4. 14).
The Israelites were directed at all times by "the fire and cloudy pillar", a symbol of God's presence with his people day and night. The meaning is clear for us today. As God's pilgrim people we have the assurance that he is our companion and our "strong deliverer" at all times and for every mile of our journey.
When the people of Israel came to the end of their pilgrimage they found one last obstacle that had to be overcome before they could enter into their inheritance - the river Jordan had to be crossed. In Christian symbolism Jordan stands for the river of death and its waters which threaten to overwhelm are the cause of "anxious fears"; "Canaan's side" is heaven itself. The hymn concludes with a prayer that when our pilgrimage is over and our time comes to face death, the Lord will give us peace of mind and heart and a joyful end to life's journey. And there is an additional prayer. Jesus is described in two amazing phrases. He is called the "Death of death and hell's Destruction". He is the living Lord and he is the Death of death by defeating it through his resurrection and annihilating its power. At the same time he is also the Destruction of hell, hell meaning separation from God. In Jesus Christ not only do we die but in him we are risen, reconciled and glorified and with such blessings to be grateful for what can we do but offer him our "songs of praise" for all time.
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