O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

The Stories Behind Our Hymns

Did you know that many of our hymns were written by Christians who came through great tragedies? Often it takes the pressure and heat of terrible circumstances in our lives to purify the dross from the gold. It is at these times that supernatural things can happen as we yield ourselves to God. Many of the hymns we sing today are the enduring gems of the tried lives of men and women who passed through the fires of testing and came out victors. Their names are great, not for what they accomplished, but what they allowed the Lord to accomplish through them during the most difficult days of their lives.
Many of us know these hymns by heart, but, I wonder, do we listen to the words and ponder the message as we sing them? The courage of these hymn writers in the face of trials and heart-breaking grief is an inspiration to me. In studying their lives, I have come to have a deeper appreciation for what we often take for granted. I hope you will be encouraged and enlightened as you read one of the stories behind our beloved hymns.

George Matheson 1842~1906

George Matheson was one of Scotland’s ablest preachers and one of the world’s greatest writers of devotional literature. As a young man he was a student at the University of Glasgow, and it was then that he fell in love and was engaged to be married to a beautiful, Christian young lady. Before their wedding date, George Matheson became ill and the doctors told him that in due time he would lose his eyesight. Immediately his mind turned to his sweetheart and his forthcoming marriage. He felt that it was his duty to write her and to tell her about the blindness which was coming over him. Hoping, of course, that she would not let him go, he offered to release her from the engagement. When his sweetheart read the shocking news, she agreed that she would not want to go through life with a blind man. So she wrote him, stating that she would like to be released from the engagement. This was a great blow to George. After several years of severe mental suffering, he wrote the words to the immortal hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.

Matheson said about this hymn:

“My hymn was composed in the manse of Innelan [Argyleshire, Scotland] on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.”

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee;

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to Thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to Thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from Thee;

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

It is clear that George Matheson learned that human love is fragile, but the love of God is endless and divine. He did not allow his sorrow and blindness to cripple him, but was a productive servant of the Lord. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh (May 1862), then became a minister in the Church of Scotland. He pastored in the resort town of Innelan for 18 years; due to his ability to memorize sermons and entire sections of the Bible, listeners were often unaware he was blind. In 1886, Matheson became pastor of St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh, where he served 13 years. He spent the remaining years of his life in literary efforts. He wrote a total of 10 hymns in his lifetime.

Come, Let us Raise a Common Song
Father Divine, I Come to Thee
Gather Us In, Thou Love That Fillest All
Jesus, Fountain of My Days
Lend Me, O Lord, Thy Softening Cloud
Lord, Thou Hast All My Frailty Made
Make Me a Captive, Lord
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
There Are Coming Changes Great
Three Doors There Are in the Temple

(Credits: This Way to Happiness, by C. M. Narramore, Ed. D.; Internet information)