“My will is weak, my strength is frail.” Inwardly the will is weak, while outwardly the strength is frail. Inwardly one wants to will, but he is too weak. Outwardly he wants to do something, but he is too frail. He can neither will nor run. Thus “all my hope is nearly gone.” What else can he do? He can only “trust Thy working true.” At first the writer was talking to himself, but now he turns to God. He comes to God and looks to Him “to gently hold and lead me on.” This means that other than the Lord’s gentle step-by-step leading, he now has no more hope. This is where he stands.
Following this, we have the next line: “I’ve tried my best, but still have failed.” This is not preaching; this is poetry. “E’en as before I’ve failed and erred.” What should he do? “Thy patience is my only trust.” He trusts in the Lord’s patience to do what? “To hold and keep me to Thy word.” He has no other hope. His only hope is in the Lord’s power. It is His power that holds and keeps him in obedience. He sees himself as being completely hopeless; he is clear about himself.
In the third stanza, we see a man of God climbing slowly upward. “Whene’er my heart is lifted up”—this means whenever he is slightly proud and self-appreciating (only very slightly)—“How very near I am to fall.” He has had too much of such experiences already. What should he do now? “I dare not do, I dare not think.” He dares not do anything; he even dares not think anything. “I need Thyself in great or small”—this means that he needs the Lord in everything and in every place. Here is a person whose sentiments have thoroughly passed through the refining fire. They are not harsh before God. Every word is poetry and full of feeling. Every word touches God and God alone.
However, a person who knows himself does not remain in himself. Eventually, he has to pray to God, “Thou art my Savior, strength and stay, / O Lord, I come to seek Thy face.” I have no way, no hope, nothing. I can only come to seek after You. “Though I’m the weakest of the weak”—here he refers back to stanza one. He does not end abruptly. My will is weak. My strength is frail. I cannot will. I cannot run. I am the weakest of the weak. What shall I do? “My strength is nothing but Thy grace.” The Lord’s grace is all that he needs. It is this grace that enables him to go on.
If our feelings are tested and refined, every time we come to God and touch such a divinely tested and refined hymn, our feeling cannot help but be caught up in it.
This also is a very good hymn. The expressions and wording are very poetic, and the feeling is very deep. Everything about it belongs to a higher realm and is lofty and mature. It is rare for a hymn on fellowship to reach such a standard. There is not a tint of unnaturalness or extreme. It is a genuine expression of a genuine lover of the Lord toward Him. It is perfect submission borne out of perfect consecration. It is the voice of submission that comes from the heart of one who has no resistance toward the Lord.
“If the path I travel / Lead me to the cross, / If the way Thou choosest / Lead to pain and loss, / Let the compensation / Daily, hourly, be / Shadowless communion, / Blessed Lord, with Thee.” This is full of consecration and submission.
Stanza two is the best stanza in the whole hymn. Here the feeling ascends still higher. “If there’s less of earth joy”—the writer is contemplating—“Give, Lord, more of heaven.” He is praying to God, not for deliverance or for change, but for more fellowship. “Let the spirit praise Thee, / Though the heart be riven.” Here is a person who can differentiate between the heart and the spirit. The heart may be broken, but the spirit can praise. The heart may be riven, but the spirit is still fresh before God. He knows the difference between the heart and the spirit. He does not ask for enjoyment of the heart but for compensation of the spirit. He has begun the ascent, but the next line is still higher. The first line says, “If there’s less of earth joy,” while the fifth line says, “If sweet earthly ties, Lord, / Break...” These two lines are linked by the word earth. This is poetry. “If sweet earthly ties, Lord, / Break at Thy decree, / Let the tie that binds us, / Closer, sweeter, be.” He seeks neither compromise nor escape. He asks only for better fellowship. He jumps from the “sweet earthly ties” in the fifth line to “the tie that binds us.” This is lovely. The feeling is fine, the words are right, and the structure is wonderful. This is beautiful!
Since stanza two reaches the climax, stanza three turns into a prayer: “Lonely though the pathway, / Cheer it with Thy smile.” “Cheer it with Thy smile”—this is so spiritual and poetic. “Selfless may I live, Lord, / By Thy grace to be / Just a cleansèd channel / For Thy life through me.” This means that he asks for nothing else except that he would be a selfless and holy vessel to carry out God’s will. This is the prayerful finale of a consecrated person in suffering. If we read this hymn carefully, we will see that this is truly a fine hymn. We have to come to God to learn these hymns and the spirit of these hymns.