Have you ever sung a song and wondered what it was exactly did I just sing? What does it mean when I sing, “…when life’s stormy billows roll…”? I’m afraid to many of us sing without putting much thought into the words of the songs we’re singing. Let’s consider a few words (and the meaning) of an old favorite hymn. In 1776 Augustus Montague
Toplady, an Anglican cleric and hymn writer, penned the words to one of our most remembered hymns. He served for 14 years as a curator and priest within the Calvinist movement, during which time he authored several works of poetry that made their way into some Methodist and Calvinist hymnals. Look at this old hymn, and investigate the words we’ve sung for years.
“Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee;” From the scripture, it’s interesting to note the importance Moses placed on God has his Rock (Deuteronomy 32: 15, 18, 30-31) as did the Psalmist (Psalm 18:2 and 19:14). Isaiah too (Isaiah 26:4) speaks toward God as our ‘everlasting Rock.’ Whether Toplady actually took shelter in a rock cave during a storm and from that brought us the “Rock of Ages”, or if he was referencing the text…he obviously knew (and today we sing) that God is our shelter in which we can hide and find strength.
“Let the water and the blood, from Thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power.” But what about the ‘water and the blood’, ‘the double cure’? John 19:34… “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” Because of our Lord and Savior’s death on the cross, you and I have a chance for forgiveness from our sins. The double cure is salvation from sin and the power sin can have over our lives. Christ gave His live (shed His blood to take away our sins, to ‘cure us’ from the guilt and power of sin.
“Not the labor of my hands can fulfill the law’s demands;” Toplady is reminding you and me that we can never do enough to make ourselves right with God. It is through His grace and mercy that we come into His salvation. Ephesians 2:8, 9 “For by grace you have been saved…not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
“Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, all for sin can not atone, Thou must save and Thou alone.” What is zeal, for that matter, what is respite? Toplady is tell the reader that you can’t be saved by your enthusiasm for God. Your zeal is your excitement, energy and enthusiasm. Respite means rest…if my excited never rested; or if my lamenting (sorrow) and my tears never stopped flowing, still that isn’t going to save me. As a matter of fact, Toplady reminds us that work, excitement and emotion won’t save us…Christ (the Rock of our Salvation) alone is my only hope for heaven.
This hymn can be found in the Faith & Praise song book (page 454)