"I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer."

Hymn: “He Lives” – Words and Music by Alfred Ackley (1887-1960)
Tune: ACKLEY

This is another one of those lively little gospel songs whose texts sometimes get glided over. 6/8 is wonderful time signature for skating rink songs, but not always for church songs!

Tucked into the second half of the first stanza of this hymn, we are reminded what the hand of Jesus does for us… and what the sound of his voice can accomplish.

The hand of mercy: Similar to “I was sinking deep in sin” (another 6/8 hymn by the way!), this merciful hand of Jesus reaches down and pulls us up out of the quagmire of sin… the quicksand that wants to suck us further into itself. We’ve all been there – some of us up to our knees… others up to their eyeballs. It’s that merciful, undeserved rescue that matters most to those of us who have been there. “I cannot get myself out of this mess,” is the last sentence out of our mouth when suddenly we are freed from the clutches of that which would be our undoing.

The voice of cheer: Another hymn asks, “Who can cheer the heart like Jesus?” The answer, of course, is nobody! And on our way up from the sinking sand… the hell-hole we may have dug for ourselves… not only do we feel his hand of mercy, but we also hear his familiar, welcoming voice. As his sheep, we are keenly aware of the sound of his voice (John 10:27), and it is not a voice of condemnation [as in “How did you get yourself into this mess anyhow?”]; rather it is a cheering-on voice saying, “You can do better than this. I know who you really can be.” As a parent in the bleachers, he shouts, “You can do it, kid.”

A hand reaching out in mercy – a voice cheering us on. What more could we want?

Joel Raney’s arrangement of this hymn