Not What My Hands Have Done
Not What My Hands Have Done
Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.
Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.
Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.
I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
‘Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.
Horatius Bonar was one of the most prolific hymn writers in Church history. During his lifetime he composed hundreds of hymns. This was not his only work. He was a pastor. He edited the “Quarterly Journal of Prophecy,” and was a passionate evangelist. So, how was he able to get so much writing done?
Bonar kept a notebook with him wherever he went. Most of his writings were birthed spontaneously. He would be struck with an idea or a fragment of a verse and he would write it down as it came to him. Many of the hymns he wrote came to him as he was traveling on the railway.
Bonar was typically not able to attach a date to his hymns because of his method of writing. He had notes on which he jotted down a line or two and they were usually accompanied by his doodling. These notes would later become the seeds from which the full hymns were written. They were the “rough drafts” in a sense.
Bonar is a great example of someone who practiced “redeeming the time.” Because he used his time wisely and efficiently and made the most of every day and every moment, through his hymn writing, his influence still lives on today.
