A Song From the House of My Sojourning
I have always loved hymns. Perhaps you do as well. Yes, they carry a certain nostalgia that takes us back to simpler times, old white churches, heavy wooden pews, and people we’ve known and loved. However, I love them for different reasons. I love them because, to quote the psalmist:
“Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.” (Psalm 119: 54)
The term “the house of my sojourning” isn’t a term we use every day. To “sojourn” is to stay somewhere temporarily. Since we’ve been purchased by Jesus’ blood, we belong to Him, and eternity in Heaven is our destiny. However, we still dwell here on earth temporarily—in the house of our sojourning.
One of those songs from “the house of my sojourning” is The Solid Rock, written in 1834 by Edward Mote. Life as a new mom to preemie twins came at me hard and fast. Hard circumstances were spinning about me with dizzying velocity, and the pull was strong toward the whirling vortex of depression or despair. This hymn, in particular, recentered me on the truth of Scripture and set me in the glow of His presence.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
I often sang this hymn over the boys and me from the time they were tiny preemies until Matthew died. I sang out the truths of this hymn and others to remind myself that though my circumstances were weighty and heartbreaking, the bright truth of Scripture remained the bedrock beneath me. I could stand firmly upon the solid ground of truth though my troubling circumstances continued to swirl about me.
My hope remained fixed upon Jesus’ blood and His righteousness, and I could lean my full weight upon the sterling nature of His character—all other ground was sinking sand, as the hymn declared.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
Circumstances escalated. Matthew’s severe special needs were confirmed. He began having seizures at 18 months old. Darkness was gathering. I never wanted to be the mother to a special needs child, but I was one. I was in way over my head. My heart was continually breaking, moment by moment for him as he struggled with the basics of eating and sleeping. His struggles aroused all my motherly compassion.
The truth tightly woven into the fabric of this hymn reminded me that though dark and heavy circumstances would likely cloud His face, I could rest firmly upon the unchanging truth. His grace was sufficient for the gathering gloom about me, and any raging tempest that lay ahead. No matter what happened, I was firmly anchored to The Rock of Ages.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When I sat in helpless silence in another hospital room as Matthew lay limp and wan under heavy sedation, the truth I’d known and believed all my life felt far away. It felt like “pie in the sky”—like the stuff of fairy tales. I knew it remained true, but as I looked about me—Matthew’s ongoing struggles, the lack of answers or relief, coupled with the increasing weight of his care, the flood was overwhelming. I often felt my soul crumpling beneath the weight of it all. However, as I kept my eyes and heart ever lifted to Jesus, I continued to find that He truly was my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
It became clear that I was losing Matthew, and I sank my roots deeply into Scripture passages that speak of our blessed hope. Those Scriptures underscored the truth that heaven is real. Matthew would be healed and whole the moment he passed from this life. My torn and bleeding heart could also find wholeness in the healing balm of His lovingkindness.
My Jesus will return one day with “trumpet sound”, and both Matthew and I will be found among His redeemed and sanctified saints. Like all the saints, we too stand dressed in the righteousness of Christ. It can sound like the fluffy nonsense of fairy tales, and it would be, were it not firmly fixed to the Eternal God. That is why to this day, and every day from now until I see Matthew again, I can belt out with brazen faith:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.