Cleave

Sometimes I read hymns instead of the more traditional scriptures.  Today I was reading through the lyrics of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," and I again thought of how strange it was that this song isn't in the hymn book.

Naturally, this thought let me to Google, and after performing some rather frustrating searches, I found absolutely no given reason as to why this particular song was taken out of the hymn book.  The best information I found was that the Church was adding and removing songs from the hymn book to make it more applicable internationally, and even when they took out the songs about Utah mountains and such, they still didn't have enough room for all of the hymns.  (Thank you to various sites, including the wonderful and "always correct" Wikipedia.)

So if anyone hears anything more explanatory and credible about this hymn (and yes, I still consider it a hymn though it isn't in the book--the Church said that there wasn't enough room for all of the hymns, not that there could only be a specific number of songs that could be called hymns), let me know.

Moving on, I remember my mother asking me about the meaning of some of the words/lines in this hymn.  In high school, I had an institute choir director come in one day.  He taught us about a few songs, but the one I remember most is this song.  I'll share a few pieces of random information I learned about this song (but don't worry, I won't tell you everything I know about it).

"Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come;"

What's an Ebenezer?  If you look it up in the dictionary, it's a "stone of help," and in terms of the gospel, the dictionary is not very far off.  The word Ebenezer comes from two Hebrew words meaning "help" and "stone." What the dictionary fails to mention (unless you have dictionary that discusses the history of words--I would love that dictionary if you have one, by the way) is the biblical use of this word.  Samuel once raised a stone at Mizpeh, the site where God's people were victorious over the Philistines.  He called this stone Ebenezer, a stone meant to remind the people of God's help in their victory in battle, and as such, their success in reclaiming the Arc of the Covenant.

If you read 1 Samuel, you'll realize that the Israelites actually lost many battles to the Philistines before they were able to reclaim the Arc of the Covenant.  So it is with our lives, and so it signifies in this hymn.  We raise our Ebenezer after we've won.  This line talks about the end of our mortal life, when we raise our commemorative Help Stone and acknowledge that we've come as far as we have with the Lord's help.  It's a powerful line.  So is the rest of this hymn.

One more line and question for my mom:

"Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee."

What's a fetter?  This is an easier answer.  You know those shackles people put on prisoners' feet?  Those shackles are fetters.  Doesn't sound like something you'd ask someone to put on you, right?  But if you love the Lord enough, you'd want to bind your heart to him, especially if it wandered a lot.  I don't remember much about what the Choir Director told me about this part of the song, but I can't help thinking that the Lord wouldn't shackle us to him, even if we begged.  Referring to doctrine about the Premortal Life and the Plan of Salvation, shackles would've been a tactic Satan used.  I don't even think the Lord would put us on a leash.  He eventually needs to depend on us and count on our decisions.  It's a beautiful expression, to say that you fear wandering so much that you are willing to wear shackles so He can keep you better, but He needs us to make our own decisions, to choose to cleave to Him even when we feel ourselves wandering.  Otherwise, His plan means nothing.  So instead of giving him permission to force you to stay with him,

Choose to Cleave.