My Froward Heart

Tonight I had no idea what hymn I wanted to do.  As I sit here, I keep thinking about a quote Reggie Kidd, the speaker at my church's Bible conference used (By the way, if you're in or around Sumter, Westminster is having a Bible conference on worship.  Tomorrow is the last night, but you should come if you can. Begins at 6, lasts about an hour and a half.)  Kidd remarked that C.S. Lewis, before he was a believer, thought that Christians sang "5th rate poetry to 6th rate music."  Kidd went on to discuss how Lewis noted the  difference of character believers had, even though they sang, essentially, bad lyrics with worse tunes.  So, I sit here tonight pondering lyrics of hymns in general.  And I have come to a conclusion.  I don't know if Lewis changed his mind later (probably did) but I'm just going to disagree with him.  I have disagreed with him before, I'm sure I will at some point again, with full knowledge that Lewis is a much wiser man than I am.  Hymn writers deal with the heaviest topic possible.  In their writings, they bare their soul and their interactions with the Triune God.  The best do so with extreme beauty in humble attempts of honoring and worshiping their Redeemer.

Unfortunately, in while pursuing these thoughts, I had no idea what hymn to which to listen.  So, with Kid A in my headphones, I went to the cyberhymnal.org.  At first I looked at topics.  They have: 1) God 2) Jesus Christ 3) Other Topics.  I thought that was humorous, but a bit unhelpful. Thus, I went to the alphabet section and clicked on "Q."  Had I started at the opposite end, I probably would have clicked "Z," but since I was uncharacteristically reading left to right, I went with "Q."  The Cyber Hymnal, boasting of over 10,000 hymns, only has two "Q" hymns.  One was the "Quiet Hour, The" and the other was "Quiet, Lord, My Froward Heart."  I had no idea what "froward" meant (It means "contrary," but you probably already knew that) and that is how it came to be our hymn tonight.  Lyrics were written by John Newton.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a performance of it.  So it's karaoke time.   This is good hymn about having child-like faith in the Lord.  That's a hard thing to do, but even in our stubbornness, the Lord holds us up.

1) Quiet, Lord, my froward heart,
Make me teachable and mild,
Upright, simple, free from art,
Make me as a weaned child:
From distrust and envy free,
Pleased with all that pleases Thee.

2) What Thou shalt today provide,
Let me as a child receive;
What tomorrow may betide,
Calmly to Thy wisdom leave:
'Tis enough that Thou wilt care,
Why should I the burden bear?

3)As a little child relies
On a care beyond his own;
Knows he's neither strong nor wise,
Fears to stir a step alone:
Let me thus with Thee abide,
As my Father, Guard, and Guide.

4) Thus preserve from Satan's wiles,
Safe from dangers, free from fears;
May I live upon Thy smiles,
Till the promised hour appears;
When the sons of God shall prove
All their Father's boundless love.

A quick final note.  Those first two verses are the most convicting stanzas I've read/sung this year.  This hymn is my prayer tonight, to be in a place where I am "distrust and envy free" and "What thou shalt today provide, / Let me as a child receive."