****GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH

William Williams intended to become a doctor until he heard the gospel.  When God saved him, he dedicated his life to Christian ministry.

 He became a deacon in the Church of England in the early 1700s.  But because he was committed to the doctrines of early Calvinistic Methodism, the church refused his ordination. 

So, encouraged by George Whitfield, he devoted himself to traveling throughout Wales, as an itinerant evangelist, preaching the gospel and establishing local fellowships of Methodists.  

Williams, who was known as the "Sweet Singer of Wales," wrote nearly 900 hymns. He wrote his first hymn, "GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH" in 1745.  It has been translated into seventy-five languages.  It is so loved in Wales that it is considered an unofficial national anthem.

The name, ‘Jehovah’ is an attempted English transliteration of the Hebrew name that God revealed to Moses.  That name is now more accurately transliterated as ‘Yahweh.’  Today, some modern hymnals use the title “Redeemer” instead, and I think it is probably fitting for the context. 

In Exodus 15, Moses and the Israelites sang; “You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.”

The imagery in this hymn is based on the accounts in Exodus where God redeemed His people from slavery and then guided and provided for them all throughout their wandering years.

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandered as “pilgrims through this strange, barren land.”

The fact that millions of people could remain lost for 40 years is a miracle.  The Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and the promised land of Canaan is roughly the size of W. Virginia.

As a Cub Scout, at the age of eight, I knew that the sun rose in the east and set in the west and I could locate the North Star in the night sky.  So, by fixing their eyes on the Sun and setting a straight course, they should have been able to cross that wilderness in less than a month.   But that was not God’s plan.

The first stanza speaks of “Bread from heaven.”  During their wandering, God fed them with ‘manna’, which fell from heaven each day.  (I am convinced that the manna was pizza.  you can read about that HERE.)

In the second stanza, the hymn refers to the “crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow” reminding us that God provided life-giving water from the Rock, which is a type of Christ.  And He led His people with a pillar of “fire” by night and a “cloud” by day.

Stanza three speaks of the “verge of Jordan,” the river that Israel had to cross to enter Canaan which was associated with death and destruction.  But God was their protector and “Strong Deliverer.”  Ultimately, the Promised Land was in view.

In the same way that God guided and protected His people then, Christ will bring us through this world and lead us safely to His new creation.  He is our Redeemer, our Provider, our Guide, our Protector, and our Deliverer so we can sing with assurance, “Songs of Praises, Songs of Praises I will ever give to Thee.”