Music for Thought

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.



As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. (John 9:1-3)


Music has always been an important part of my life. I love all kinds of music, but the music that feeds my soul is the music that we sing about God.

Does anyone know what this is? (Hold up hymnal)


I love hymns. I love to sing them. I love to read them. I suck at writing them. It’s a gift I’ve always wanted and never had. One of my personal sins … envy.


You might be wondering why I’m saying all this about hymns this morning. Don’t worry. I’ll eventually get there. But first I’m going to sing you the first verse of a hymn. If you want to follow along, it is number 371.

(Sing verse 1 of “To God Be the Glory”).

What a great hymn of praise to God. Here is another that has always been a favourite of mine. It’s not in our hymnal, but I have it in another one. I know it from my childhood in the Presbyterian Church: "All the Way My Savior Leads Me." (Tab 2) It tells about how Jesus leads us through the difficult times in our life. I have another one here that you might know: "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine." (Tab 3)


Now to get to what you’ve all been waiting for. What do hymns have to do with today’s readings. Well, actually nothing.


But these hymns all have something in common. They were all written by the same person. In fact, that person wrote quite a number of hymns. Only one of them is in our hymnal. Her name was Fanny Crosby.

When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was blind. If that happened to me, I am afraid I would be very bitter and I would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for myself. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:

Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!

Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.

One day Jesus was walking with his disciples when they passed by a blind man. When they saw him, the disciples asked Jesus who was to blame for the man's blindness. Was it because of his sin or was it because of his parent's sins? Jesus answered them and told them that no one was to blame, he was blind so that God's works could be shown in him. Then Jesus healed the man and the people praised and glorified God for his goodness.

What about Fanny Crosby? God didn't heal her blindness. Perhaps if God had healed her, she might never have written all of those beautiful hymns -- and the world would never have heard of Fanny Crosby. She used the tragedy of her blindness to glorify God. I pray that tragedy will never come into your life, but if it does, remember that everything that happens can be used to praise and glorify God!

Dear Lord, the difficulties in our life seem small when compared to what others may be facing. Help us not to grumble and complain, but to praise and glorify you in every situation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.


based on sermons4kids