Streams of Mercy

Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing.

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of highest praise.

This is the first verse of a well-known hymn penned by Robert Robinson in the 1700's when he was only twenty-two years old. It has been sung for years in the church and has been recorded many times by Christian artists, including the David Crowder Band, Jars of Clay, and Michael W. Smith. The words ring true so it has endured the test of time.

If you've ever seen a guitarist tune a guitar, you know that it's a fairly simple process. She'll usually start by tuning the lowest string, an E,  to a particular point of reference, maybe a nearby piano or perhaps an app on a smartphone. From there, the other five strings are tuned to be in sync with that lowest string. After a couple of minutes, a guitarist with a good ear and a steady hand will have her instrument in tune.


Tuning a piano is much more complicated. A professional piano tuner must be called in to do the job. He'll usually bring with him a tuning fork that, when struck against a hard surface and then held firmly, base down, will resonate a pitch-perfect A. He'll begin the painstaking process of tuning all of the piano's internal strings to align from that perfect pitch...all eighty-eight keys, some with two strings each, some with three. The process may take up to two hours and requires great skill and patience. But when it's done correctly, the instrument is ready to produce amazing musical pieces of great beauty and expression.

I wonder what inspired Robinson to use the phrase "tune my heart to sing thy grace"? Had he just seen a musical instrument tuned? Did this remind him of the work that the Holy Spirit alone can do in our hearts to produce true songs of grace?

I don't know what inspired the imagery of heart tuning, but I am so thankful that Robinson also gave us the phrase "streams of mercy never ceasing." I carry that image in my mind and it comes to the front of my thoughts over and over again.

In the beginning of the Sermon of the Mount, in the section we call "The Beatitudes," Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matt. 5:7). As we extend mercy--compassion, care, giving, empathy--we increase our capacity to receive it in our lives. And as we receive it, we increase our capacity to extend it to others.

However, if we just receive God's gift of mercy--which He has poured out on us so freely and graciously--and do not pass that along to the world around us, we become like a stagnant pond. Have you ever seen a pond that has just become so still and lifeless that it begins to stink and becomes a hazard? Compare that image to a mountain stream with a source flowing endless amounts of crystal pure water into it as the water flows down, pouring onto other rivulets and streams below. "Streams of mercy never ceasing"..."Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

So what do we do when we have received all this mercy and grace in our lives? What do we do when God's blessings have tuned our hearts to sing out to the world the story of His grace? We seek out opportunities to show mercy. We look for ways to show compassion to those who need...well, to those who need. We live our lives in grace. 

No wonder all of this "calls for songs of highest praise." With our hearts tuned to sing His grace, we're ready to create beautiful music in our world!