Tune My Heart Again
Devotional: “Tune My Heart Again”
Scripture: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” — James 1:17
Theme Sentence: God’s grace not only saves us — it continually tunes, steadies, and restores our wandering hearts.
Often after I go to bed, I will ask Alexa - Amazon’s cloud‑based voice AI assistant - to play a hymn for me. I know I know, just hear me out. Sometimes I tell her which specific hymn I want her to play; sometimes I just say, “Alexa, play a hymn for me,” or perhaps I say “Alexa, play a soft, soothing instrumental hymn.” Off she goes to Amazon Music, and within seconds she is playing a soft, soothing instrumental hymn for me.
I have been reading the book Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories. The author Robert Morgan has complied the stories of 150 beloved hymns and one of those is the subject of this BLOG posting - "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." So that night I requested Alexa to play that hymn.
Backstory: The hymn, written in 1758, is by Robert Robinson, a young 22-year-old recent convert. Prior to that, at the age of 17, he was living a life of drinking and gang life. While still drunk, he and his gang went to an evangelistic meeting to heckle George Whitefield who was preaching. Robinson went, in his own words, for the purpose of “scoffing at those poor deluded Methodists.”
Robert heard Whitefield preaching on Matthew 3:7. After Whitefield read “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Whitefield burst into tears and exclaimed to those in attendance, “Oh my hearers! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!” Robinson felt attacked personally by Whitefield. Robinson truly believed that Whitefield was preaching directly to him; however, it took three years for the Holy Spirit to finally persuade Robert to repent and accept Christ at the age of 20.
He entered ministry without delay. By age 23, he was serving at the “Calvinist Methodist Chapel” (an interesting pairing of terms, much like “Freewill Baptist”) in Norfolk, England. For a Pentecost Sunday sermon, he wrote a hymn for the congregation to sing as a prayer during the service. Since then, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing has remained a beloved church favorite.
Praise for God’s Overflowing Grace
Robert Robinson began his hymn with a simple but profound invitation of the singer to God: “Come Thou Fount of every blessing.” God is the fountain of blessing. We should always invite God to come into our worship. The song continues, “Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” The singer asks God to tune his heart, like an instrument, to sing His grace. Have you ever played an out-of-tune instrument? A violinist once said that the most important part of a performance happens before the first note is played by the orchestra. Every instrument must be tuned — not once, but repeatedly. Temperature changes, humidity, and time will pull the strings out of alignment.
“Streams of mercy, never ceasing.” We are like instruments in an orchestra; our hearts can drift out of tune. Pressures, disappointments, and life’s distractions loosen the strings. Our worship grows dull, our gratitude fades, and our awareness of God’s presence dims. He doesn’t dim, God’s “Streams of mercy” are “never ceasing.” His love and kindness are continuous.
“Call for songs of loudest praise.” Continuing the metaphor that we are like instruments in an orchestra, the instruments don’t do their own thing; they play as directed by the conductor. They can be led to play “softly and tenderly” as directed in the hymn “Softly and Tenderly.” Or they can be directed to play “songs of loudest praise.”
Key Message: Worship begins with remembering God’s abundant grace and asking Him to shape our hearts to praise Him rightly.
The hymn, when done right, in my humble opinion, sounds Irish – Celtic. Enjoy the music video. I guarantee you will be humming the tune of this great hymn for the rest of the day. Be patient; it takes a few seconds to start.