Third Verse

A few weeks ago, ok maybe a month, I wrote about one of my favorite hymns. In that post, on September 9, I only included the first verse. I can't decide which verse is my favorite, but I also really like the third verse, which goes like this:

"O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannon close my heart to thee;
I climb the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not in vain,
That morn shall tearless be."

You may have noticed that the word "climb" in the third line sounds unfamiliar, as the hymn today has replaced the original phrase with "I trace the rainbow through the rain." I don't know why that change was made, but someone once told me that it was because the thought of climbing a rainbow sounded too idealistic or fantastical for a hymn. Let me just say that I have read the Bible, and God wants more than anything for us to imagine the ideal, to trust Him for it, to cling to it, and to hope in it.

George Matheson wrote this hymn at a point when he was experiencing anything but joy, yet he starts this verse with recognizing and reminding himself that God Himself is Joy. How wonderful is it to know and trust that God chooses to seek us through our pain!?! Don't read that the wrong way. Matheson does not indicate that we seek God in our pain, though we may. He reminds us that despite the state of our own hearts, God WILL seek us in the midst of our pain. He goes on to reiterate, we CANNOT close our hearts to Him. When he writes about climbing a rainbow, you can just see this triumphant picture of physically grabbing hold of a symbol (the rainbow) which God gives us to indicate His unwavering faithfulness to us. It is clearly written in Genesis 9:12-15 after the great flood:

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.'"

So when Matheson sees himself clinging to this rainbow, this promise, he literally feels that "the promise is not in vain." He is confident that the "morn shall tearless be."

We also should be so confident. We can climb the same rainbow, we can feel the same promise, and we are sought by the same God who is our Joy.