From my experience, one of the worst feelings ever has to be when you feel you've disappointed the person who means the most to you in life and don't know how to fix it. It's almost like you have trouble breathing for the fear that, God forbid, the person won't think of you in the same way.
My favorite sentimental hymn from childhood, What a Friend we Have in Jesus, includes the lyrics,
- Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there. - Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear; - *****
Another old hymn, Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, includes the lyrics, “O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love. Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!"
This song from 1875 was Samuel Trevor Francis’ (1834-1925) most widely circulated hymn, one he lived long enough to hear sung by congregations around the world, sometimes in different languages. Another hymn of his, I Am Waiting for the Dawning, begins,
- 1 I am waiting for the dawning
Of that bright and glorious day,
When the darksome night of sorrow
Shall have vanished far away;
When forever with the Saviour,
Far beyond this vale of tears,
I shall swell the hymn of worship
Thru the everlasting years. - *****
- Paul writes in Colossians 3: [12] Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
- "When people hear ‘bowels and mercies’ they say, ‘What’s that?! Go back to chapter 1 and Paul’s already told you. He writes in verse 8, ‘For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.’
- "Obviously he’s using a figure of speech or a metaphor," explains Richard Jordan. "You can easily find another place it’s used that will explain it to you. The bowels of something is the innermost recesses. Bowels of the cave; bowels of a ship.“Isaiah 16:11 says, ‘Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.’ He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to have some groaning way down in the depths of my inner man; my inward parts,’ and he’s not just talking about his physical anatomy; he’s talking about his soul.“I John 3:17 is another place that helps you. ‘But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’“He’s talking about the innermost part of a person’s soul. The inward part. By the way, the issue about 'the bowels of compassion'—that’s where compassion comes from.“If there’s something that can go right down into the depths of your soul where life really comes from . . . is there any of that? It’s all in Christ.
- *****
- Here are the lyrics to another all-time favorite hymn of mine, Abide With Me, that I grew up hearing on the record player and singing in church:
- Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. - Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me. - I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. - I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. - Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
- Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
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