March 27, 1842 –
August 28, 1906
“O Love that will not let me go!”
George Matheson came to this realization through a personal experience only known by him and God. Somewhere in his life, he learned that the heart is fragile and is susceptible to heartbreaks, but one could always depend on God’s faithful love.
George was born on March 27, 1842 with severe vision problems. However, with the help of one of his sisters, he did not allow his disability to prevent him from excelling at Glasgow University, and in his service to God as a preacher and writer.
While in school, George fell in love and became engaged to a young woman. What a wonderful time in his life. But, it was also during this time that George learned he was going completely blind. Perhaps George felt he could share his life-changing news with his fiancé and receive comfort from her, but sadly he received a reaction he did not expect. This young woman surprisingly informed George that she did not want to be married to a blind husband and abruptly ended their engagement.
George was heartbroken.
Sometime later, George learned that his sister – the one who had aided him throughout his life – was getting married.
Just prior to his sister’s wedding, George became very emotional and naturally turned to God. He had a strong desire to write a hymn. The first lyrics of George’s inspired hymn read as follows:
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.
This is how George describes the miraculous process of writing this hymn :
“It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself.
I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes and equally sure it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high. I have never been able to gain once more the same fervor in verse.”
No one really knows if George was thinking of the time his fiancé ended their engagement, or if he was suffering mentally from the thought of no longer having his sister to help him. But one thing is for sure: On June 6, 1882, George discovered that there is no love like the love of God.
“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5, NKJV).
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