For people of faith, summer camping might prove all the more invigorating with the Bible and a hymn book.
As for the latter, a simple look into the origin of some well-known hymns would make their singing meaningful later on in the year.
Almost all the hymns of the Christian faith have originated from relevant backgrounds or from significant occasions or events. One such, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, is no exception.
Its writer, John Greenleaf Whittier, a Quaker, was reared in an environment where his family was given to characteristic meditative silence.
An obnoxious and noisy ‘revival’ service in particular is said to have moved Whittier to write the said poem wherein he painted the finest picture of true worship in five stanzas.
It begins: “Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways! Reclothe us in our rightful mind; in purer lives Thy service find, in deeper reverence praise.”
No doubt the poet had in mind the story of the raving Gadarene demoniac, shouting and cutting his body with piercing stones (Mark 5:1-15).
When he saw Jesus, he cried with a loud voice, “Jesus the Son of the Most High God.”
But Christ did not accept his noisy demonic worship. He quietened him and then healed him.
Stanza one is a plea for spiritual sanity instead of religious madness. Perhaps it’s a call to go deeper with the Lord, rather than being ostentatious with our religious activities.
“In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the Lord, let us like them without a word rise up and follow thee.”
This scene comes to us from Luke 5:1-11, depicting the desperate cries of Jesus’ fishermen followers: “Master, we toiled the whole night and have taken nothing.”
Is this not a picture of many of our lives? We work for creature comforts and future security. If we cannot make it by fair means, we are tempted to go into devious ways.
In the frantic race of life, we often miss the very essentials – peace and rest. For the fishermen to leave behind two boats full of fish in order to follow Jesus was obviously unusual.
Something extraordinary must have happened to them. They were ready to gamble for something far beyond their livelihood. They were ready to embrace a new revelation.
“O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above, where Jesus knelt to share with Thee, the silence of eternity, interpreted by love!”
Silence often connotes to us aloofness or indifference. But in this stanza, God the Son is communicating with his Father in love and adoration.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Yet the communication was full of meaning, love, and worship.
“Drop Thy still dews of quietness till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess, the beauty of Thy peace.”
What the poet perhaps was trying to convey is that life is not a rat race of activities, seeking fame and popularity.
In the race of life, many get stressed and hit mental breakdowns. God wants to relieve us from these and give us His peace.
Jesus once said, “Come to me all that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The Christian’s witness for God is an ordered life.
“Breathe through hearts of our desire, Thy coolness and Thy balm; let sense be dumb, let flesh retire, speak through the earthquake, wind fire, O still small voice of calm!”
Here is an illustration from the Old Testament story of Elijah (1 Kings 19:9-16). At Mount Carmel, he showed his zeal for God by calling down fire from heaven and slew 450 prophets of Baal.
Following all the high-pressure activities, he suffered a breakdown and just wanted to die. He ran a marathon and hid himself in a cave fearing for his life.
Then God revealed to him that He was not the tempestuous wind or the shattering earthquake or the devouring fire, but a still small voice.
In that calm voice, God commanded Elijah how to undertake the ministry of anointing kings. He asked him to find a successor to continue God’s ministry.
God wants to speak to His followers as He did to Elijah. But we will not be able to hear His voice if we are too ‘busy’ for God.
Whittier wrote, “Let flesh retire….” Activities without waiting upon God can prove to be carnal. He wants us to learn of Him first, to seek His mind, and to do His will.
We should let the Spirit of God work through us, then surely we will build His kingdom.
“Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).
