John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, was at one time a slave trader in the Atlantic and then after his conversion at sea became an abolitionist and minister. He never forgot the depths of his former depravity or the depths of God’s grace that covered his sin. He wrote the words to this beloved hymn that most of us know at least the first stanza of by heart. It stands as a testament that when God entered his life, everything changed for him, and he wrote one of the most recognizable Christian hymns of all time.
Amazing Grace is typically found with five stanzas. All five are powerhouses and I cannot see how it can be justified to leave any out. I am going to display all five verses even though we will only discuss one. For more background on the hymn or the author you can always check out www.hymnary.org which is where I always go for hymns, aside from my Baptist Hymnal, of course. Certainly, you can do an internet search for John Newton and Amazing Grace and find more information.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Thro’ many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
We could spend weeks mining the depths of treasure in this hymn and I hope you will spend some time in the next few moments and days meditating and singing on the hope, grace and truth found within its lines. The fourth stanza is where I want to bring our focus.
God’s promises are forever. As we read scripture and find a promise, we will find some of them are specific to Israel, some are specific to individuals, like Abraham or David, but there are a lot that are for all time for all people. His promise to never flood the earth again is one example. There have been tragic places where there have been floods, regional occurrences, but never again the entire earth as in the time of Noah. The rainbow in the sky is a reminder of this promise, however else it may be used and twisted. The promise that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life is for everyone. You and I and whoever has lived before and whoever will come after. This is a promise he will not break. He has promised good to us.
His word my hope secures. We can read the word of God and find hope for the situation we are in. That does not mean of course, we can just let our Bible fall open and randomly drop our finger in and find the answer we need. No, I mean daily reading. Abiding in His word. Spending time systematically reading through His word. There are a ton of different ways. If you are new to reading the bible, I suggest you start with the gospel of John. The theme of John is “that you may know.” John wrote his gospel that you may know that Jesus is who he says he is and is a great place to begin your journey. Of course, you can always go old school and begin with Genesis and read straight through. Watch out for those Old Testament names but go for it. However you do it, just get into God’s word and stay there. There is hope secure in the pages.
The next line is taken right out of scripture. He will my shield and portion be. See the two verses below:
But You, Lord, are a shield around me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
He is our strength, shield, portion. He is our all in all. When we simply cannot take another step, he is our strength. He is the lifter of our head. Notice Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail.” My goodness. Haven’t we been there? The burden becomes too much, and we don’t know what else to do or where else to turn. There is a God we can turn to who is our shield, our glory, the One who lifts our head. He is not a magician who waves a wand, and everything is magically better. No. We still have to walk through the trial. But. He is the strength of our heart giving us the strength we need to take that next step.
Wow. We just looked at one verse of Amazing Grace and what an Amazing God we have found! I want to issue a challenge to us. Let’s memorize not Amazing Grace but the two verses I have posted above. I have them posted in the New American Standard Version but use whatever version with which you are comfortable. The New International Version and the New Living Translation are good versions for reading and memorizing. Write them out on an index card and begin to commit them to memory. I wonder, can you sing them to the tune of Amazing Grace?
Angela
