O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee
O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee
O Lord, how shall I meet Thee,
How welcome Thee aright?
Thy people long to greet Thee,
My Hope, my heart’s Delight!
O kindle, Lord most holy,
Thy lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly
All that may please Thee best.
Love caused Thine incarnation,
Love brought Thee down to me;
Thy thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
O love beyond all telling,
That led Thee to embrace,
In love all love excelling,
Our lost and fallen race!
Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn o’er joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not, He is near you,
Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
Sin’s debt, that fearful burden,
Let not your souls distress;
Your guilt the Lord will pardon
And cover by His grace.
He comes, for men procuring
The peace of sin forgiv’n,
For all God’s sons securing
Their heritage in heav’n.
Composite Translation
IF MARTIN LUTHER was the mind of German hymnwriting, Paul Gerhardt was its heart. Gerhardt wrote devotional songs of love and commitment—133 hymns in all, including “Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me” (August 18).
Not that Gerhardt’s life was all peaceful contemplation. Far from it! Like many other hymnwriters of his era, he faced the Thirty Years’ War, which devastated Germany. Four of his children died in infancy, and he lost his wife after only thirteen years of marriage. Gerhardt also walked a rocky road professionally. He was a popular Lutheran pastor, but after defying an order of the secular ruler, Elector Frederick William I, he was banished from his thriving ministry in Berlin.
In spite of his troubles, his hymns still ring with love for the Lord. He seemed truly to strive “to do in spirit lowly all that may please” the Lord.
The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout, “Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!”
Matthew 25:1-6
From the book
