Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” (1 Samuel 7:12).

In this passage, we see that Samuel set a rock as a memorial for what the Lord did against Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. The Lord, and He alone, was able to deliver His people. If you read the previous verses, you can see that it was God who scared the Philistines, they fled from God’s presence, and just after that, the brave men of Israel were able to defeat their enemy. Then, we see this wonderful act of worship performed by Samuel, setting this stone, so people will remember God’s help for His children. Now, what does Ebenezer mean? Simple, “rock of help.”

The Lord has been faithful to us, as well, therefore, we can have our own “Ebenezer,” memories when we had a hard time and the Lord helped us and delivered us from our enemies. Ebenezer can be the perfect Word of God, because we can find in it the help that we need for our daily tasks. Even more, Jesus himself is our “Ebenezer.” He is our “Stone of help.”

This verse is the basis for the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” The author was Robert Robinson. Robinson had a rough beginning. His father died when Robert was very young and his mother sent him to London to learn barbering, but instead, he learned to drink and be part of a gang. But, God had a different plan for this young man, and he was able to listen to George Whitefield in one of his evangelistic meetings. On that night, Whitefield was preaching form Matthew 3:7, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” And Whitefield exclaimed, “Oh, my hearers! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!”

Robert knew that Whitefield was preaching to him, but this journey took three years, and on December 10, 1755, he repented and gave his life to Jesus.

Robert soon entered the ministry, and while serving at a Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, he wrote a hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday. The name of this hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

“Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry 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.”

The second verse is where Robinson quoted 1 Samuel’s passage.

“Here I raise mine 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,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.”

I must share with you all that in the hymnal that we use at OCBC, the second stanza wording is different, at least the first half.

“Hitherto thy love has blessed me,
thou hast drawn me to this place;
and I know thy hand will lead me
safely home by thy good grace.”

This is the reason, when we sing this lovely hymn, we keep the original lyrics on the screen.

Returning to the life of Robert Robinson, we know that sadly, later in life, he wandered from his faith. By God’s providence, Robert was traveling in a stage coach with a young lady as his companion. Suddenly, she started to share with him what a blessing had been for her a hymn called, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” She asked him what his thought about this hymn were, and Robert said to her, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.” Then, she answered him, “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.” After this encounter, he repented and returned to ministry.

Robert passed away peacefully at the age of 54.

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring 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.”

Please, sing this hymn, use it as a prayer, learn from it and remember your Ebenezer.
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In His service,
Israel