Prone to Wander: the Story of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
In our modern age of celebrity, some of the most popular musicians and performers are those who are willing to share much of their personal lives online for the world to see. Fans, haters, paparazzi, tabloids, and maybe even your mom all know that Taylor Swift is with Travis Kelce. On a smaller scale, dedicated fans follow along on social media to see the daily lives of their favorite artists—what they’re eating, where they’re shopping, who they’re hanging out with, etc.
There is much to be said of the negative ramifications of these parasocial relationships, but what I find noteworthy of this dynamic is the desire to know and connect with art by connecting with the artist. By knowing the artist more, their art takes on a more profound meaning. For Christians, we can certainly apply this by enjoying creation more fully as we grow to know our Creator more deeply. I have written about this idea previously in a blog titled, “Hymns of the Creator”.
Another way we can do this is to apply this dynamic directly to the songs we sing. I occasionally stumble across the personal stories of hymnwriters. Stanzas I have known for years suddenly become more alive as I read of the backstories of the men and women who penned them. In the most recent instance of this, as I prepared for this upcoming Sunday, I came across the brief story of Robert Robinson, the man who wrote the words to one of the most popular hymns of all time, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.
In many of these stories, the pivotal moment the hymn is written coincides with the hymnwriter coming to know the Lord. This is not quite true for Robert Robinson. Robinson came to the Lord during one of George Whitfield’s preaching tours in England in 1752. After his conversion, he began studying theology and within a few years began his ministry work, serving in various capacities at different churches around England, preaching being the primary focus of his work.
Within these early years, Robinson penned the words to “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, reflecting on his conversion, yet, not too long after, Robinson wandered away from God. Meanwhile, his hymn managed to gain some popularity, and by God’s sovereign hand, a wandering Robinson found himself traveling alongside a woman who enjoyed the hymn and began speaking to him about it. As the story goes, Robinson tried to get himself out of the conversation, citing his distance from God. Poignantly, the woman quoted his own words to him—God's “streams of mercy” are “never ceasing”. This led Robinson to return from his wandering and continue a life of service and worship for the Lord.
Clearly, considering the never-ceasing streams of God’s mercy was impactful and applicable to Robinson, and it is this mercy that was extended to him and to all of us when we find ourselves “prone to wander... to leave the God I love”. With the story in mind, here are Robinson’s words:
Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love!
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.
I imagine if you are reading this, you are familiar with hymn. There are many great recordings and arrangements out there, but for something a bit different, I’d recommend giving King’s Kaleidoscope’s recording a listen.
