SONGS OF PRAISE – A hymn dedicated for the New Year-2024 – By Charles Schokman
As the young minister travelled through the rugged country near England’s Cheddar Gorge, the clouds burst and torrential sheets of rain pummelted the earth. The weary traveller was able to find shelter standing under a rocky overhang. There, protected from the buffeting wind and rain, Augustus Toplady conceived one of the most popular hymns ever written, “Rock of Ages, Cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.”
In March 1776 Toplady published the hymn as part of an article in The Gospel Magazine<, which he edited. He wrote that just as England could never pay her national debt, so man could never by his own merits satisfy the justice of God. In the middle of the article, he burst into song, printing for the first time the hymn “Rock of Ages”, which so ably describes Christ, the Rock of Ages, as the remedy for all our sin.
Augustus Toplady died of consumption at the age of 38. As he neared the end Toplady proclaimed, “My heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no affliction, pain no cause, death itself no dissolution…My prayers are now all converted into praise.”
Used by permission from Christianity.com
Rock of Ages Bible Meaning.
1 Samuel 2:2 – “There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
2 Samuel 22:2 – He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
Psalm 62:6 – He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 144:1 – Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
As we sing and reflect on this hymn may God the “Rock of ages” show us His permanence, His protection and His enduring faithfulness.—Ref. to Psalm 18.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
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Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
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