Rector’s Reflections
Friday 28th February 2025
Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer: A Hymn and its Background
In yesterday’s reflections, we saw how this hymn can be interpreted as a classic proclamation of the gospel in the Evangelical tradition. It tells us we are sinners, and we need God’s help and strength if we are to hope to get to Heaven. Our journey through life is full of uncertainty and danger, so we need God to lead us through the trials and tribulations which we will undoubtedly face. And then there will be the final journey: the journey across the river of death which separates this life from the next.
The hymn pictures this final river as the river Jordan. In the words of verse 3, “ When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Death of death, and hell’s Destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side”. This is a reference to a key event in the story of the Exodus, the account of how God rescued the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land (“Canaan”). It was a story with several stages, and each stage was important. To start with, Moses had to lead the people out of Egypt, which culminated in the miraculous crossing of the “Red” [probably “Reed”] Sea. He then led them through the wilderness for a period of 40 years, during which God gave them various laws and commandments, the most important of which were called The Ten Commandments. The Jewish people then arrived on the borders of the Promised Land. All that is left for them to do is to cross the river Jordan, and they can then enter the Promised Land. Interestingly, Moses was not allowed to lead the people in this final stage of their journey. He is allowed to glimpse the Promised Land, but not to enter it. It is his assistant and successor, Joshua, who will lead the Jewish people across the river and into the Promised Land.
Many Christians have seen the story of the Exodus as an anticipation of the life and work of Jesus. Jesus rescues his people from the slavery of sin, and leads safely across the waters of death into the Promised Land. Peter and William when they were writing their hymn certainly had this connection in mind. They filled their hymn with references to the Old and New Testament, knowing that many if not most of the people who would sing it had sufficient biblical literacy to pick up the references and to appreciate them. Such biblical literacy is much rarer nowadays, even among regular churchgoers. I wonder how many of the people who sing Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer in our own day will be aware of all the references to events in the Old and New Testament?
This leads on to two final questions, which are worth pondering.
The first is this. Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer is a classic expression of Evangelical preaching in the Calvinist tradition. You will note that there is no reference to God’s love. Instead, there is an emphasis on the fundamental difference between human beings, who are weak, needy and ignorant, and the wisdom, might and strength to be found in Almighty God. Human beings have nothing to offer God beyond a willingness to turn to Him, and to allow Him to “lead” them through the challenges of life and “land [them] safe on Canaan’s side”. Is this picture too hard on human beings? Can human beings do something by themselves to work out their own salvation, or does absolutely everything depend on God? Do we really need God to “guide [us]…through this barren land”? Can’t we guide ourselves? And, while we’re at it, is the world as we know really a “barren land”? Many folk seem to find the things of this world, for example money, food and status, quite sufficient for their needs. Many seem to find that life as we know it is not “barren” at all- it is well-stocked with good things.
And the second question is whether people really are bothered about sin, and what might happen when we die. The background to Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer is the traditional belief that we are all sinners, and that unless we receive God’s forgiveness, we shall end up in Hell, where we will suffer for all eternity. Sin is thus a very serious matter, and only God can save us from our sins. So much for the traditional belief. But do people still believe this? How many people actually believed it back in 18th Century, when William and Peter were writing their hymn? Some did. But how many?
So what do you think? Does Guide Me O Thou Redeemer still have the power to bring us closer to God? Or is it just a good sing? And does it matter? For a good sing it undoubtedly is!