Hymn: “There’s within my Heart a Melody” – Words and Music by Luther Bridgers (1884-1948)
Tune: SWEETEST NAME
Some of us know this hymn as “He Keeps Me Singing,” but more hymnals nowadays are using the first line of the first stanza as the title. Either way, this is one most of us evangelicals know pretty well!
The line I chose today is from the end of the refrain:
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Sweetest name I know
Fills my ev’ry longing, keeps me singing as I go.
With all due respect to Mr. Bridgers, I’m not sure about the use of “every” in that last line. I’ve sung that phrase since I was knee-high to nothin’, but am a little quizzical about that concept. In the first place, I’m not sure it is a biblical teaching; in the second place, if Jesus filled my EVERY longing, I’d be in some deep trouble, wouldn’t you? Spiritually speaking, my Savior fills most of my sacred longings; but I have longed for some gifts, talents… even opportunities… that have not yet been achieved.
I’m okay singing that line because the second half is so very true for me. Though not a great singer (one of those unfulfilled longings!), I always have a song going in my head… and sometimes on my lips. To quote a couple of other hymns: “How can I keep from singing?” and “I sing for I cannot be silent.” It’s just part of my nature to be swimming in some melody or adrift in a great hymn text. Like some of you, many times it is a song – and not a scripture or a prayer - that pulls me out of the doldrums and invigorates my spirit.
With a few unfulfilled longings, we can still maintain a singing habit. It’s one habit worth nurturing!
Listen to a Group-Singing of This “Homecoming Style”!
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