Tune: I KNOW A FOUNT
I bet I am doing a trifecta today as the hymnline, the hymn name, and the hymn tune are the same! I know nothing of horse-racing or betting thereon, but I like the word “trifecta”!
While only the refrain of this 1923 hymn appears in most hymnals and songbooks, the stanzas that precede ask questions like: Are you weary, heavy-laden? Burdened, weighted down with care? Are you doubting, in bondage? Do you want deliverance? To answer those questions, Cooke begins the refrain with “I know a fount…” – he implies, “Let me direct you to this source.”
This is such a simple, easily-sung tune, and the benefits available at the fount are also simply-stated, but profoundly relevant. Here are the appropriations he lists:
- Sins are washed away.
- Night is turned to day.
- Burdens are lifted.
- Blind eyes are made to see.
The brief chorus concludes with “There’s a wonder-working power in the blood of Calvary.”
I love this snippet of redemptive theology. Nothing draws me in quite like simple profundity… and this is a fine example. Yet every time I sing it, I am struck by that verb “know.” Does it mean I am merely aware of the fount, or do I KNOW that fount by experience? I grew up in the church; I’ve been in Sunday school since the first Sunday after my birth date. I know a whole lot about God/Jesus, the heroes of the faith, the gospel – even salvation. [I still remember Campus Crusade’s “Four Spiritual Laws”!] But unless I truly “get” the cross-experience, I will still be weary, heavy-laden, in bondage, etc.
During this Lenten season, I hope we can all get beyond the questions to the answer… and approach Easter with a new spirit of knowledge of the power of the blood of Calvary.
Listen to This Hymn
(Don’t watch the screen because the words are badly presented… grammatically and otherwise!)
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