Like a River Glorious -- Frances Ridley Havergal

 

You cannot read anything about this English hymnist without encountering the word peace for which she was known by all who met her. Frances Ridley Havergal did not live a long life, and yet she apparently welcomed her own death with a serenity that may have been best reflected in one of her hymns, “Like a River Glorious”, which she wrote a few years before her eternal inheritance and the tranquility she cherished came to fruition. Frances’ deep and abiding familiarity with the ancient biblical texts undoubtedly provided much of the foundation for what would flow from her pen, but could she have also been moved by the creation she observed, like any number of rivers that she might have observed and which could have provided further inspiration for what she wrote (perhaps not unlike the River Wey in southern England, shown here)? Frances did not really need to explain what motivated this hymn, for she lived it.

 

Thirty-eight-year-old Frances was reportedly in Leamington, in central England, in 1874 when she wrote ‘Like a River Glorious’, and though her poetry is all we possess of her thoughts at that time, it offers several clues of her mindset at the time. We could reasonably presume that Frances was reading from Isaiah and perhaps also Psalms and many New Testament scriptures to find inspiration for what she would create. As she began, it could have been the prodigious prophet Isaiah whose words moved Frances initially, with the promises of the Lord on his lips to the people. ‘Peace…like a river’ could have been and could still be theirs, Isaiah said (48:18; 66:12), a metaphor that would have appealed to this 19^th Century hymnist as she thought about herself and the relationship with God that she valued so highly. At least two rivers are also in the Leamington area where Frances was at the time – the Rivers Leam and Avon – and could also have underscored for her His creative work in her midst. It wasn’t just a peace she felt, but a perfect one, which she saw as a glorious moving body of water, something that flowed more ‘fully’ and ‘deep(ly)’ as time went on. Could Frances have also found a kindred spirit in Isaiah through his song in chapter 26 about this perfect peace (26:3)? Is anything more secure than being in the ‘hollow of His hand’, in the protection of the one who had waters there in the same way when He made them (Isaiah 40:12)? That’s a very comforting reminder, one that could have spurred Frances’ second verse to tell herself and her readers that no ‘traitor’, ‘worry’, ‘care’, nor ‘hurry’ can overwhelm His shield for the believer. Frances could also have found such reassurance among David’s Psalms, including Psalm 37 (see verses 23-24, among many others there). Frances could have found the promise of peace throughout the New Testament also, including Jesus’ own words (John 14:27; 16:33), and from any of His apostles (like Paul – see Romans 5:1). That’s why Frances could stress the ‘trust’ she had for Him in her third verse, even during ‘trial(s)’ as well as ‘joy(s)’.

 

It is said that Frances actually welcomed death when it was ready to take her at the early age of just 42. Her health had apparently not always been optimum in the years just prior to her death, and perhaps that made her life in eternity one that she longed to inherit, one without pain. Frances had been a precocious child, reportedly reading by the time she was four years old, and then writing her first poems at age seven. She was a brilliant woman who learned to read La­tin, Greek, and He­brew, and who knew the Psalms and Isaiah (as suggested above, by what she wrote in ‘Like a River…’) and much of the New Testament by heart. So, someone might say how tragic it was that her earthly life was cut so short. Could that be why God gifted her so well at an early age, because her life would be a short one? Hers was what someone has said was a life well-lived, though short. And, look what she left for us to remember, especially how she handled not only life, but death, too. Bravery was one of her character traits, but it wasn’t something she could claim as her own. And, though she was talented, she didn’t feel her brief life had somehow cheated her. After all, what are four decades compared to the forever she began by 1879?            

 

Find all the original verses of the hymn here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/i/k/r/likriver.htm

 

A brief biography of the author/poetess is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/v/e/havergal_fr.htm

 

See here also for the hymnist’s bio, and information on the song and its original date of authorship (1874): https://hymnary.org/text/like_a_river_glorious

 

A more complete bio on the author-hymnist is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

 

Information on the location where the hymnist reportedly wrote this hymn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington_Spa

 

Read some reflections on the author-hymnist’s life in the following: Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; and Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan, 2003, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wey_source_farringdon.jpg …This work has been released into the public domain by its author, SuzanneKn at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: SuzanneKn grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River  

Made for More -- Blake Wiggins, Jessie Early, Jonathan Smith, Josh Baldwin

 

He’d just made a move, and he was searching. That’s what Josh Baldwin shared as he talked about “Made for More” after the song was released in 2024. He had several collaborators – Blake Wiggins, Jessie Early, and Jonathan Smith – so it wasn’t just Josh making up his own mind about how he himself was ‘made for more’; indeed, Josh and the others implicitly acknowledged that identity begins with the One who made us all. Josh had been part of Bethel Music based in Redding, California (see its seal here), which has been a collection of songwriters that may have played a role in the song’s development. So, when he moved across the country to Tennessee, he was evidently hunting for some ‘newness’. Fortunately, he found that this endeavor did not really take him in an opposite direction, but rather allowed him to step back from leading and reexamine the basics of his faith. What did his life mean for him personally? That’s what comes through in the words that Josh began, and which Blake, Jessie, and Jonathan helped focus and refine.

 

Josh said the song emerged during a songwriting session, so one can imagine the ideas that were shared back and forth in ‘Made for More’. He says the song felt pretty special right from the start, and actually helped him rethink what the theme of the album on which it appears should be. That tells us, who are searching like Josh was, that something pretty essential is contained within the songwriters’ collective thoughts when they finished their work. It’s said that these essentials captivated them through several scriptures – Romans 8, Isaiah 43:1, and Ephesians 2 – which ancient writers also used to communicate powerful, life-giving manna to their age, and now to ours. In short, one word helps sum up how they said we should feel: Alive! That’s what the ancients were saying poetically and otherwise. The Apostle Paul no doubt read what Isaiah had written what God told him: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’ It must have dawned on the prophets, Jesus-followers like Paul, and these 21^st Century songwriters that God doesn’t redeem people to let them remain dead or to live a futile existence; He wants His chosen ones to be as alive as He is. Josh says this living message, that being ‘made for more’ helped strengthen his own son, and became like a personal anthem when he and his family were hunting for a new church in Tennessee. There were valleys and peaks, but they could count on the Creator-God to remain faithful. If you’re feeling hamstrung by your past mistakes, leave them in the dust, and as Josh and the others wrote in their lyrics, take heart, for ‘I have a future and it's worth the living’. Life is so much more than merely being born and then dying, so don’t ‘be tending a grave’, because that will only be a temporary stopping/resting point along the way.

 

Josh and company have so much more to say about being “Made for More”, and its message evokes an emotion that actually can transcend the human life experience. It will go beyond the grave, where none of us have yet been. And yet, Josh and the others say something else that’s interesting in one of their verses – ‘The cross of salvation was only the start’, implying that there’s so much more than looking out ahead to the finish line. Jesus did say ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30), so we all look to that seminal moment when Jesus accomplished the saving act for you and me. How Josh and his friends respond, though, is to say ‘we’re risen now’. If your day has a heavy rock that you feel like you’re dragging along behind you, let it go, and grab hold of what’s said in “Made…” -- I know I am Yours. Am, not will be someday. Right now.

 

 

Details of the song found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=made+for+more+song+story&aic=0&bih=825&biw=1459&sca_esv=ae1e161c6b0f2947&ei=kOx7ae6IHqjm5NoPoLqlmQo&ved=0ahUKEwjukL_z8rGSAxUoM1kFHSBdKaMQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=made+for+more+song+story&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGG1hZGUgZm9yIG1vcmUgc29uZyBzdG9yeTIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTIIEAAYgAQYogRI_HhQ9A9Y_HFwAXgBkAEAmAFSoAGsDaoBAjMxuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIboALVC8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAgUQIRigAcICBRAAGO8FwgIGEAAYBxgewgIIEAAYBxgIGB7CAggQABgFGAcYHsICChAAGIAEGEMYigXCAg0QLhiABBixAxhDGIoFwgILEAAYgAQYkQIYigXCAgUQABiABMICChAuGIAEGEMYigXCAgUQLhiABMICFBAuGIAEGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEBwgIIEAAYogQYiQWYAwCIBgGQBge6BgYIARABGBSSBwIyN6AHzbABsgcCMja4B9MLwgcENi4yMcgHKIAIAA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

See more comments about the song here: https://www.brightfm.com/shine/shine-daily/josh-baldwin-on-the-purpose-behind-made-for-more/ and here: https://worshipleader.com/worship-culture/made-for-more-josh-baldwin/

Read about one of the songwriters here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Baldwin

Read about a songwriting venture here in which the principal songwriter has been involved: Bethel Music - Wikipedia

See information on the image of the Redding seal here: File:Seal of Redding, California.png - Wikimedia Commons. This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States. The image may be found inside this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redding,_California

Lord, You Have My Heart -- Martin Smith

 

The band Martin Smith formed was called Delirious – with a question mark (?) to emphasize something in the band members’ collective psyche, perhaps. But, there was no question mark in the song that Martin wrote for the group in 1993 in which he said confidently “Lord, You Have My Heart”. This Englishman (see the English flag here) had a pretty good idea of how he felt, and so he needed no other narrative to explain how the song’s development had occurred. Saying what Martin decided to actually put to music was just his way of underscoring his commitment. He’d probably read plenty of his bible to feel fellowship with other like-minded musicians who were his ancient ancestors, so why not join them in spirit by putting to music how he felt, as they must have when they decided to express their inner spirits in like manner? There’s a pretty sizeable group of believers who have done the same across the centuries; do you think they’ll inhabit a particular corner of Eternity, or instead be scattered amongst the rest of us, and only occasionally congregate to share with one another their musical gifts? Perhaps Martin was already thinking about what it will be like when he penned the last words of this devotion.

 

Martin was ready to offer himself completely in what he calls a personal journey in 1993. ‘Lord…’ was the first song that he and his fellow band members (they originally called themselves The Cutting Edge Band, after a recurring youth event which they supported) wrote, which says something about what the song might have meant to Martin and the others. Was it like an anthem for them, a mission statement of their purpose in forming and playing and singing songs? Martin does not say, but it apparently stuck with him, so that he and his daughter were singing it together many years later (see the story link below). ‘Search(ing) for His’ heart (the 2^nd line of the song) is evidently something that the Smith family has passed along to the next generation. Martin used some other words to characterize how he felt, like ‘sacrifice’, ‘lead me on’, and ‘praise’, some key things he would do as he looked around for the God whose ‘love (had) come down’ and ‘show(n) (His) face. But, maybe Martin wasn’t thinking only of the terrestrial moments to come in 1993. Seeing His ‘glory’ would be quite a revelatory sight, would it not? After all, even Moses, whom God called ‘friend’ (Exodus 33:11), was not permitted to see God face-to-face (Ex. 33:18-23). Seeing His glory face-to-face would have meant death…maybe it was just too much voltage for the human being to handle. Indeed, Moses’ face was so radiant after this meeting with God, that he frightened the Israelites who met him at the foot of the mountain. Nevertheless, Martin has not stopped his search, and he looks to his predecessors for life-giving sustenance of God, even if seeing Him in full-face isn’t yet possible. He says many passages – like Psalm 139:23-24, Psalm 27:8, and Romans 12:1-2 – have helped him dig roots and connect his own song’s words with biblical truths. We’ll actually get to see His glory, one day.

 

Martin and the rest of us can long to see Him, as we’re doing each time we sing and read what He tells us. That is what you and I can take away from what Martin Smith wrote in 1993. It never really stops, as long as we don’t snuff out that curiosity streak in us, and long to draw as close to Him as possible while here on earth. The promise that I will get to be with Him, to meet Him whose image I try to mimic, is the basic instinct for all of us who are human. Is there something in me that is like Him, that he found worthy of creating? There’s only one way to answer this. Just one way to find my roots.   

  

 

Read the story behind this song here: Lord You Have My Heart Lyrics - Martin Smith

 

Read about the author-composer here: Martin Smith (English musician) - Wikipedia

 

Read here re: the album (Cutting Edge 1) on which the song was premiered by the group Delirious? Cutting Edge (recordings) - Wikipedia

 

See information on the England flag here: File:Flag of England.svg - Wikipedia…This work has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder. This applies worldwide.