Several years ago I was exchanging emails with our friend in Louisiana, Don McGee. The above words were his sign off on an email from him. Ever since I first saw those few words, I have realized how true they are and that, literally, nothing else is more important to our life on this earth than the above words.
This song, ‘My Hope is Built on Nothing Less’ speaks to our ‘Nothing Less Hope’.
The following is from the book, “Psalms, Hymns, and Spirituals by Graham McKay:
Written in 1834 Words by Edward Mote (1797-1874).
Music by William Bradbury (1816-1858).
“Theefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” Matthew 7:24.
Not all British hymn writers were ministers or the wife or children of ministers. It is true that many were middle or upper class, but some were from poor, uneducated families. Edward Mote’s parents ran a pub in London, and Edward played in the pub or on the street. He says it like this, “My Sundays were spent in the streets; so ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God.” As a youth he was an apprentice to a cabinetmaker who took him to church, and there he learned the Bible and the gospel.
Mote went to school and became an ordained Baptist minister but really spent his life as a successful London cabinetmaker and teacher in his local church. In 1834 Mote wanted to write a hymn on the experience of being a Christian. The chorus came to his mind while walking to work and the stanza while on his job.
He gave this hymn poem the title “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope.” In many hymnals you find the other official title, “The Solid Rock.” This may be a neglected hymn as it is packed with wonderful and deep Biblical theology. Trust no frame but lean on Jesus’ name.
Prayer Focus: Help me to stand on the solid rock….Christ.
Sandra Naugle is Co-Editor of Word & Work and lives in Sellersburg, IN.