OH LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO

George Matheson was only a teenager when he learned that his poor eyesight was deteriorating further. Not to be denied, he continued straightaway with his plans to enroll in Glasgow University and his determination led to his graduating at the age of nineteen. But as he pursued graduate studies for Christian ministry, he became completely blind. His sisters joined ranks beside him, learning Greek and Hebrew to assist him in his studies, and he pressed faithfully on. But his spirit collapsed when his fiancée, unwilling to be married to a blind man, broke their engagement, and returned his ring.

George never married, and the pain of that rejection never totally left him. Years later, his sister came to him, announcing her engagement. He rejoiced with her, but his mind went back to his own heartache. He consoled himself in thinking of God’s love; which is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn, and never uncertain. Out of this experience it is said he wrote the hymn, “Oh Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go” on June 6, 1882.

George Matheson became a powerful and popular preacher pastoring in the Scottish village of Innellan. Despite his flourishing ministry, there was one winter’s evening when the Sunday night crowd was miserably small. George had worked hard on that particular sermon, but the empty chairs nearly defeated him. Nevertheless, he did his best, not knowing in the congregation was a visitor from the large St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh, which was seeking a pastor. As a result, in 1886, he was called to St. Bernard’s where he became one of Scotland’s favorite preachers.

“Make every occasion a great occasion,” Matheson later said, “You can never tell when somebody may be taking your measure for a larger place.”

(from "Then Sings My Soul," by Robert Morgan) 

OH LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO
George Matheson

O love that wilt 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

O light that follow’st all m y way
I yield my flickering torch to Thee
My heart restores its borrowed ray
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be

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

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