I feel like the woman at the well in John 4 is a dear friend. I’ve meditated and preached on her story often. I like her. I pity her. I relate to her. “I am a Samaritan woman,” I like to say. Above all, I rejoice in the salvation and satisfaction she finds in Christ. I find in her story a synopsis of the gospel this is both complete and compelling. For some time I’ve wanted to condense John 4 into a hymn text (consistent with this challenge regarding specificity), and I’ve finally done so. I hope the allusions to the biblical record will be obvious.
The text below will almost certainly go through some tweaking after I’ve lived with it awhile and before it’s joined to music. But I’m excited about it. I believe it faithfully progresses through her solitude (v. 1), her spiritual thirst (v. 2), her forgiveness (v. 3), her transformation into a worshiper (v. 4), and her joyful evangelism (v. 5).
Stylistically, I decided to write in a format that would make the piece both an expression of praise to God and an invitation to fellow Samaritans. “Come! Drink! Rest! Joy! Go!” Also, the story (and, I suppose, the meter) brought to mind a lot of hyphenated compound modifiers, which developed into a motif throughout the piece. That’s not typical for a hymn text, I realize. There’s probably a good reason for that. But she’s not typical. Her Savior certainly isn’t! At any rate, I hope the text will help people wonder at the immense mercy of Christ. If nothing else, it’s been good for me to go through the exercise, as with the other texts published at CWM. Grace!
Come, Lonely Heart
Come, lonely heart, to the outsider’s Friend—
To Jesus, who seeks out the lost.
Your soul-wrenching solitude will fin’lly end;
Find welcome—find home—at the Cross.
Drink, thirsty heart, of the water of life—
Of bountiful, thirst-quenching grace.
The world’s broken cisterns cannot satisfy;
A Savior is what your heart craves.
Rest, guilty heart, in forgiveness of sin—
In pardon from shame-stirring vice.
Though Satan and sinners and conscience condemn,
Your soul may be spotless as Christ’s.
Joy, grateful heart, in the Father above—
In God who is seeking your praise.
The sinner becomes through His life-changing love
A trophy and trumpet of grace.
Go, brimming heart, to declare what you’ve found—
To share that Messiah has come.
Go, that the glory of God may redound
Through Jesus, the world-saving Son.
(Note: If you wonder what this all means, I encourage you to listen to this brief gospel presentation, which tells how sinners can be right with God through Jesus Christ.)
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