HYMN STORIES: The Songs We Sing

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

This Sunday in the combined service we will be singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.  It was written by Robert Robinson who was a rather difficult as a boy, and when his Dad died, things only got worse for his mother. So, when he turned 14 in 1749, his mother sent him to London for an apprenticeship.  This was done out of love, to instill some sense of responsibility and structure to young Robert’s life but to no one’s surprise, he was just as much a troublemaker in London, and to make matters worse he gained some friends and followers as a leader!

When he was 17, he took his gang to a revival service where a well-known preacher at the time, George Whitfield, was speaking. Imagine him saying, “We’ll go down and laugh at the poor deluded Methodist.” But something happened that night that Robert wasn’t expecting.  After hearing the message, it moved him deeply and it made him rethink his life and how he was living it.

Nearly three years after hearing that sermon, a twenty-year-old Robert Robinson made his peace with God, and “found full and free forgiveness through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.” Joining the Methodists, and feeling the call to preach, the self-taught Robinson was appointed by John Wesley himself to the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England. It was there, to accompany his sermon for Pentecost Sunday in 1858, the three-year anniversary of his conversion, he penned the words of this hymn: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

The first stanza is all praise and adoration, very fitting for the occasion, but the last two stanzas almost feel like a spiritual autobiography. That’s the story about how one of the greatest hymns of the church came to be.  This just goes to show you how God works in mysterious ways sometimes. It’s a great reminder that God can use anyone for His purposes, and he might just have a plan in store for your life. His plans are often ones that we would never expect or even be able to think of on our own, but if we say yes to His calling, our story is going to be awesome!

Shared by Lindrew Johnson, Director of Worship