Hymn Stories

IN THIS EPISODE: "There Is a Voice of Sovereign Grace" by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

"I sat all the evening just looking at that hymn. I did not hear your prayer. I did not hear a word of your sermon. I do not know your text. I thought of nothing but that hymn; and I have been thinking of it ever since."

Show Notes: 

• Lake Marie II by Ian Aisling

Facebook: www.facebook.com/storiesofhymns
Instagram: https://www.inst...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

It is reported that Charles Wesley was sitting in his study one day when a little bird flew into his open window, it was being hunted by a hawk and the predator had almost overtaken his prey when the frightened bird escaped into Wesley’s study. The story goes that Charles watched this scene unfold, let the bird out once it was safe, took his pen, and w...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Lord It Belongs Not to My Care" by Richard Baxter (1615-1691) 

In spite of his life-long weakness and pains--the bitter persecution and cruel imprisonments, Baxter completed an astounding amount of work. Yet, when reminded on his deathbed of his good deeds for the glory of God and the good of the church, he replied: “I was but a pen in God’s hand, and what praise is due to a pen?” 

Show Notes: 

• "Lord, It...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Christ Leads Me Through No Darker Rooms" by Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Part of what makes Richard Baxter’s hymns so powerful and worthy of our consideration is the fact that his hymns sprung not only from a heart that cherished Christ but were penned by a hand that kept steady on the plow.

Show Notes: 

• "Tenderness" by Monument Music
• "Before Us" by Cedric Vermue

Facebook: www.facebook.com/storiesof...

IN THIS EPISODE: Commanded to Sing and John Wesley's Rules for Methodist Singers

With all this talk about hymns, it's inevitable that each one of us will have to reckon with the reality of the quality of our singing.

Show Notes: 

• "A Beautiful Hope" by Ketsa
• "Perigean" by REW

Facebook: www.facebook.com/storiesofhymns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hymn.stories/

Hymn Stories is a part of the Media Gratiae...

The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
But day-spring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

O Christ! He is the fountain,
The deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I've tasted,
More deep I'll drink above:
There, to an ocean fulness,
His mercy dot...

"The Sands of Time Are Sinking" by Anne Ross Cousin (1824-1906) and Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)

Christ’s honeycombs drop honey and floods of consolation upon my soul; my chains are gold. Were my blackness and Christ’s beauty carded through other, His beauty and holiness would eat up my filthiness. The secret formula of the saints: When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord’s choicest wines.

Show Notes: 

• ...

IN THIS EPISODE: "O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice" by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751)

Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Be always greatly abased for your remaining sin, and never think that you lie low enough for it, but yet don’t be at all discouraged or disheartened by it; for though we are exceedingly sinful, yet we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the preciousness of whose blood, and the merit of whose...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Jesus, Where'er Thy People Meet" by William Cowper (1731-1800)

“My time and thoughts much engrossed today by an afflicting and critical dispensation at Orchard Side. I was sent for early this morning, and returned astonished and grieved. How mysterious are the ways of the Lord! How much seems now at stake! But while all is in His hands all is safe. Could hardly attend to anything else.”

Show Notes: 

• ...

IN THIS EPISODE: "He Leadeth Me! O Blessed Thought" by Joseph Henry Gilmore (1834-1918)

Joseph set out to give the congregation an exposition of the Twenty-third Psalm. He emphasized the blessedness of being led by God—of the mere fact of His leadership—altogether apart from the way in which He leads us, and what He is leading us to.  After the meeting, he wrote a hymn that landed squarely on the phrase, “He leadeth me besi...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Abide With Me" by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)

Was there ever a time when you were laboring alongside fellow Christians to fulfill a task that the Lord laid out for you, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, you were left to complete the work alone? Have your spiritual comforts ever been eclipsed by the loss of a helper?

Show Notes: 

• "Piecing Back Together" by Lake Isabel
• "Abide With Me" performed by Soph...

IN THIS EPISODE: "Abide With Me" by Henry Francis Lyte

Do you ever feel as though you are all alone? Christ has promised to be with his people until the end of the age. The hymn "Abide With Me" is a prayer to sing in times of deep sorrow, distress, or loneliness.   

Notes: 

• Sunrise at Mt Fuji by Avbe
• "Abide With Me" performed by St. Olaf Cantorei and Congregation 

Find more helps at www.ryanbush.org. 

Hymn Stori...