Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 07
A Wonderful Saviour
– A Light out of Darkness
Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), America’s most prolific hymn writer, authored more than six thousand hymns, blessing millions worldwide. Embarrassed by the volume of credits to her name, she used over two hundred pseudonyms. Fanny Crosby did her composing in a dark room – total darkness – for she was blinded in infancy by a doctor’s mistake. Her father died when she was a year old, requiring her mother to hire herself out to a wealthy family. When her grandmother heard that the little child was incurably blind, she said, “Then I will be her eyes.” She took long walks with Fanny and graphically described the sunsets, clouds, trees, flowers, birds, and beauties of nature. Her grandmother’s word pictures were so vivid that Fanny even had a favourite flower – the violet.
Fanny learned the sweet communion of prayer together with her grandmother as Fanny knelt by her side. Her grandmother patiently taught her the Bible. With Fanny’s phenomenal memory, she committed to memory the first four books of the Old Testament, the four Gospels, the book of Proverbs, and many of the Psalms, and her favourite individual chapters, giving her sound scriptural basis for her hymns. Although Fanny had no formal schooling, at the age of fifteen, she left home to enrol in the New York Institution for the Blind. There she became something of a celebrity, as she recited her poetry for famous visitors. She came to know every president in her time, except for George Washington. Fanny remained at the school for twenty-three years, eight as a student, and fifteen as a teacher. She later became the first woman to address a joint session of Congress.
In Fanny’s physical darkness, God gave her a light that radiated around the world through her beloved hymns. She expressed her testimony in one of her most popular songs, which includes, as do many of her songs’ lyrics, the word ‘see’.
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Saviour to me;
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
A wonderful Saviour 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.
With numberless blessings each moment he crowns;
And filled with His fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture, “ O glory to God
For such a redeemer as mine!”
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.
Chorus:
He hideth my soul In the clefts of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life
In the depth of His love,
And covers me there with His hand.
This song reminds us that even though we may lose something precious, we still have reason to rejoice in Christ and in His salvation for us. If Fanny Crosby, who never had earthly sight, could sing of a wonderful Saviour and numberless blessings, how much more should we who see the beauty of the world and life around us praise God for His creation and bountiful mercy and grace towards us.
(Extracted and edited from Songs in the Night by Henry Gariepy)
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee