Reading Rusty’s writing last week reminded me of the many hymns of our faith with powerful texts. If you haven’t sung many of these in a while, it might be worth the effort to keep a hymnal handy during your quiet times. You could read one each day.

This reminds me of a time when I decided I would just sit quietly for several minutes and try to release my mind of all thoughts, lists, things I could be/should be doing and empty myself before the Lord so that He could have a clean slate to write anything He pleased on my heart.

That, my friends, is a challenging task. I finally reached a somewhat neutral zone and He began putting the words, “Tune my heart” into my mind. Now, being a musician, it felt like a comfortable phrase. So I proceeded to pray all around that phrase.

“Help me not to be out of tune with you, Lord. Tune my heart to hear your voice.”

“May my actions and words be pleasing. Remove any dissonance.”

“Purify my Spirit, Lord, that I might be in harmony with your plans. May my will match the intent of your will.”

On and on I prayed around that musical theme, but I kept coming back to that original phrase, Tune my heart. All at once, I thought, “That’s a phrase out of a hymn text!”

I sang the phrase in my mind—Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

I could recall the next phrase—Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

I tried to move on, but I got stuck. What’s the next line? What’s the  beginning? Do you ever do that? You can think of one part of a song, but the other parts just won’t come?

I sat quietly again. Finally, here it came—Come, thou Fount of every blessing—capital “F.” He is the fount. Every blessing pours from Him like a fountain and at that moment the fountain of blessing was the precious time spent with Him.

I went to my hymnal to review the rest of that first verse. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

Have you ever wondered how the strong voices of heaven might sound? Perhaps melodies we’ve never heard. Music beyond our imagining!

Praise the mount! What is the mount? It is a mountain piled high with His redeeming love.

So… join me in singing with your voice, your heart, and particularly your mind fully engaged!

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of LOUDEST praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.

Violin strings often get saggy and need to be tightened or they might be strung too tight and need to be tuned. Maybe it’s time that He tune our heartstrings as well.

I will sing praise to your name. Psalm 18:49

~ Joyce ~