Dear praying friends,
One of the most blessed hymn loved by many is “HE HIDETH MY SOUL” By Fanny Crosby
And today we will take a look
Fanny Crosby (extracted from Wikipedia)
Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs,[a] with more than 100 million copies printed.[1] She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name.[2]
Crosby was known as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers”[3] and as the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America”,[4] with most American hymnals containing her work.[5] Her gospel songs were “paradigmatic of all revival music”,[6] and Ira Sankey attributed the success of the Moody and Sankey evangelical campaigns largely to Crosby’s hymns.[7] Some of Crosby’s best-known songs include “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour“, “Blessed Assurance“, “Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home”, “Praise Him, Praise Him”, “Rescue the Perishing”, and “To God Be the Glory“. Some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, so Crosby used nearly 200 different pseudonyms during her career.[8][b]
At six weeks old, Crosby caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. Mustard poultices were applied to treat the discharges.[23] According to Crosby, this procedure damaged her optic nerves and blinded her, but modern physicians think that her blindness was more likely congenital and, given her age, may simply not have been noticed by her parents.[24][25]
At age eight, Crosby wrote her first poem which described her condition.[29] She later stated: “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”[30] She also once said, “when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior”.
Read again her words,
“when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior”.
What a blessed Woman of God! (Calvin)
Crosby set a goal of winning a million people to Christ through her hymns, and whenever she wrote a hymn she prayed it would bring women and men to Christ, and kept careful records of those reported to have been saved through her hymns.[200]
What a prayer! Asking God for one million souls saved through her hymns
It was John Sung who asked God for 100,000 souls during his evangelistic campaign. But this godly woman of God has a larger faith
Now let us go into her Hymn
HE HIDETH MY SOUL
1 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
a wonderful Savior to me.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
where rivers of pleasure I see.
Refrain:
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of his love,
and covers me there with his hand,
and covers me there with his hand.
2 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord;
he taketh my burden away.
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved;
he giveth me strength as my day. [Refrain]
3 With numberless blessings each moment he crowns,
and filled with his fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture,“Oh, glory to God
for such a Redeemer as mine!” [Refrain]
4 When clothed in his brightness, transported I rise
to meet him in clouds of the sky,
his perfect salvation, his wonderful love,
I’ll shout with the millions on high. [Refrain]
Stanza One is A Statement
1 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
a wonderful Savior to me.
A testimony that Jesus is a Wonderful Saviour
And this was what Jesus did
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
where rivers of pleasure I see.
Text taken from Exodus 33:22
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
Moses experienced the Glorious Presence of God
“In Thy Presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures for ever more”
The Chorus or refrain
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of his love,
and covers me there with his hand,
and covers me there with his hand.
The land where Moses traveled through was a very hot and dry land. And word pictured like “cleft of the Rock with its protective shadows that shade Moses from the hot blazing sun is a refuge indeed.
This world that we now live in is full of distress: drought, inflation, bank failures, rumours of wars and full of dangers from earthquakes, tsunami & tornadoes
Thank God! He is the same refuge where we can hide
God promised to cover and protect us with his hand.
Stanza Two
What Wonderful things Jesus has done and is still doing
a) he taketh my burden away.
Jesus takes away our burden of life. Let us cast all our cares & burdens on Jesus by prayer
b) He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved;
He sustains us. By Jesus’ intercession we stand
c) he giveth me strength as my day. [Refrain]
He gives us strength day by day all through our lives
In fact he is with us everyday & every moment of our life
Stanza Three
3 With numberless blessings each moment he crowns,
and filled with his fullness divine,
Each and every moment He crowns us with numberless blessings!
So much overflowing blessings that move us to sing!
I sing in my rapture,“Oh, glory to God
for such a Redeemer as mine!” [Refrain]
Not only sing (present tense)
In coming glorious future (future tense)
We will shout!
4 When clothed in his brightness, transported I rise
to meet him in clouds of the sky,
his perfect salvation, his wonderful love,
I’ll shout with the millions on high. [Refrain]
I “Sing” is the present tense
I WILL SHOUT” Is the Future Tense
YES WE SING NOW
BUT ON THE DAY OF RAPTURE
WE WILL SHOUT WITH THE MILLIONS ON HIGH