The Sinner, the Advocate, and the Sufferer (I’m all three)
I stayed home from church this week with a head cold, complete with the sinus pressure that sends a twinging pain out to my ear – but hey, I’d take this over the stomach flu any day!
While I was home, I wanted to listen to hymns. I remembered Liddy Voetberg (very talented local friend) has an amazing hymn album on Spotify! Every song on it is amazing, I highly recommend it! The lyrics to “I’d rather have Jesus” resonated with me in a unique way. I was singing along, the pain meds and decongestants had kicked in and no one was home, so it doesn’t matter how I sounded. As the words reverberated in the back of my throat and went down into my abdomen, this might sound weird, but I could feel my spirit and heart agreeing with the words:
“I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;…"
The Lord brought to light, through my conscience, current imbalances in my thought life for worldly treasure. Conviction washed over me:
“Forgive me Lord” I confessed
The hymn continued...
“I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand....”
My eyes started to sting as I sang the words, more conviction flooded my heart, I immediately gave Jesus my desires that came rushing to mind as they were familiar and cherished thoughts throughout the week as a priority over him. The imagery of his nail pierced hand outstretched, waiting to lovingly lead me, and being empty because I am looking the wrong direction, hit me softly.
“Lord, thank you for your forgiveness. Lead me, father.”
“I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.”
These beautiful words and the solemn reminder to be faithful to “his dear cause” and “true to his Holy name” Gave me peace. I was washed with a sense of realignment as my heart agreed to submit my path, my goals, my ambitions to Christ again, as more important than my success (or lack thereof I should say). I knew that having my conscience in agreement with my Savior is more than enough gain for this life.
The song continued:
“He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out of the comb;
He's all that my hungering spirit needs,
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead.”
To get my heart and mind to reset, realign, rebalance on the truth of the sweetness and rarity of the beauty of Jesus is to recenter in harmony with Christ. I felt the words to this beloved hymn guide me back to a calm I needed.
Rhea F. Miller
I was curious about the author of this beautiful hymn, so I did a little research. It was written in 1922 by Rhea F. Miller
“Rhea F. Miller was the only daughter of Martin and Bertha Ross, from Brooktondale, NY, which is 8 miles out of Ithaca, NY. "Grampa Ross," we called him, (Rhea’s father) had been a drunk and wanted nothing to do with religion. His wife, Bertha, was faithful to God despite of her husband's drunkenness. Her faithfulness and the prayers of family and friends eventually led to his salvation and deliverance from alcohol. As a result, he entered the ministry and became pastor of the Baptist Church in Brooktondale...
One day in 1922, at 28 years of age, while walking the fields of their Brooktondale home, Rhea began to reflect on her father's testimony of how he had been delivered from alcohol, and how he had said he would rather have Jesus than all the gold and silver in the world, and all the houses and land that money could buy. Thus the song was born and soon took form with her own words complete with her own music...”
My testimony is not like this. I’ve known Jesus since a very young age, I asked him into my heart when I was 6, so I’ve never experienced the depths of despair as Martin Ross did. I don’t know what it would be like to come to know Christ as an adult, with what might feel like a larger sin debt for Christ to cover. What I realized while singing this hymn and letting the truth resonate in my lungs, it was a truth written by Rhea F. Miller, burdened for her father.
What I knew to be true was that in Rhea’s story, there was redemption found for all three involved:
The sinner, her father, found repentance
The advocate, her mother, found steadfastness to endure and pray for her husband
The sufferer, Rhea herself, found the grace to forgive her father for the suffering she endured that was not her cause or consequence for her decisions.
Whether you are the sinner, the advocate or perhaps the sufferer, (and I fall into all three categories) Christ’s truth comforts on all roads. Being in line with the Savior gives us a song to sing, an anthem to cry out and hope in reaching out to take his nail pierced hand. It is a simple call to let him lead.
“He's all that my hungering spirit needs.
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Than to be a king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway,
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.”