O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

This week we’re looking at another very well-known hymn, sung in churches all over the world since it was first published in 1882. The author, George Matheson, shares the incredibly sad story that preceded his writing of this hymn. It took him all of 5 minutes to write and was the only hymn he ever wrote that did not require any editing.

Matheson began to go blind in his late teens. When he broke the news of his blindness to his fiancée, she concluded she could not handle life with a blind husband and broke off the engagement. In the following years, he authored two theology books before going completely blind and leaving the academic world for life as a pastor. His eldest sister helped him for many years, even helping to take on some of the pastoral duties made difficult or impossible by his blindness, until she wed in 1882. On the eve of his sister’s wedding, alone and blind, Matheson feels inspired to write this hymn. In his own words, he felt more like it was dictated to him rather than his own work.

O Love that will 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.

Matheson’s pain and feeling of helplessness are evident in the first three stanzas. “Love that will not let me go.” Regardless of what happens to us or what we do, God will not let us go (Romans 8). In that love, we find rest. In rest, we relinquish our will for His.

O Light that follows all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee.
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.

A “Light that follows all my way, I yield my flick’ring torch to thee”. We often run out ahead, thinking we have light and can find our way. Yet God’s light is always there, and as ours grows dim, we are restored in “thy sunshine’s blaze”.

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.

Through finding rest in God’s love and being restored in His light, we find a “Joy that seekest me through the pain.” James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Psalm 30:5 “…Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning”. God does not allow our pain, sorrow, or trials to be our end, for He seeks to make all things new.

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.

The four stanzas walk us through not only the four faith elements of Matheson’s relationship with Jesus but also the attributes of Jesus and His work—love, Light, Joy, and the Cross. In the Cross, hope is given. In the Cross, renewal is brought forth. In the Cross, endless life is realized.

Some say music is less important than words, that it’s only the words that communicate. As a musician, I tend to disagree with that. Similar to Matheson’s account of how this hymn lyric was written, Albert Peace shares that the melody and music came to him swiftly and without error. Peace was a well known Scottish organist contemporary to Matheson and wrote it at the request of the Scottish Hymnal Committee shortly after the hymn lyrics were published in the Church of Scotland magazine. Peace’s melody applied to this song is truly an inspired work of art.

Over the years, many have interpreted Peace’s melody of Matheson’s words. But in my search, I have only found one version as beautiful as this one performed by Keith & Kristen Getty and Dana Masters, recorded in 2021. It’s so moving, I wanted to share it with you. I hope it stirs you and brings you as much peace and joy as it does me.