Track 1- "Jesus, Lover of My Soul"

Jesus, Lover of My Soul-
Verses 1-3 by Charles Wesley / Verse 4 and music by Josh Huff

Verse 1:

Jesus, Lover of My Soul, let me to Your bosom fly.

While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high;

Hide me, O my Savior hide, 'till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last

Verse 2:

You, O Christ, are all I want; more than all in You I find;

Raise the fallen, chear the faint, heal the sick and lead the blind.

Just and holy is Thy name, I am all unrighteousness;

False and full of sin I am, Thou are full of truth and grace.

Verse 3:

Endless grace with You is found, grace to cover all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within:

You, the fount of life do flow, freely let me drink of Thee;

Spring Thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity.

Verse 4:

Heav'nward I life up my eyes, Christ is on the mercy seat;

There I may receive the prize for He intercedes for me.

Sin's dark curse of death has died; Christ the Lamb is all I see;

Joys eternal from my soul; satisfied at last in Thee.

This song is a hymn most of you can find in your hymnal. It was put to a melody that I didn't think quite fit the text. The original tune sounded a bit like the tune for "O, the Deep Deep Love of Jesus"; very minor and sad sounding. I wanted to write something a bit more upbeat and in a major key. Also, I was hoping to make it a bit more accesible by having a bit more repetition in the melody line. So, after noodling around with the melody, I came up with what you will hear on the album. It's a bit of a folk sound, reminiscient of Indellible Grace.

When I finished writing the music for this, I couldn't help but think that the song felt incomplete, and that's not just because I thought it should have 4 verses. The text covered a ton of Biblical topics, including sin, depravity, justification, adoption, protection, and a great focus on what Christ accomplished and still does in the life of the believer. But I wanted some focus on the finish line, on the final prize of actually being with Christ in heaven. That is where the last verse came from.

I actually wrote it right before a Sunday evening service as my dad and I were discussing this very issue. I had some time before the service, so I thought about what we had talked about and God was gracious enough to help me get it together in just a few minutes. Before the service I showed it to my dad (our Pastor of Worship), and he said we should sing it, and that's how verse 4 came to be.

I especially like the imagery of that last line, because that is really what I am looking forward to. We do get a taste of heaven now by enjoying the joys of pleasing God and worshipping God in this life. You could even say that those joys are eternal joys because they spring from what will be an eternal relationship with God. But those joys won't be realized until heaven. In heaven is where those joys will find their satisfaction, their rest, in their creator, Jesus Christ. That will be an incredible day, when we no longer see pain, destruction, or sin, but see Christ and find satisfaction for all our joys.