Vol. 197: ”Have Thine Own Way”

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me After thy will, While I am waiting, Yielded and still.
2. "Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Search me and try me, Master, today! Whiter then snow, Lord, wash me just now, As in Thy presence Humbly I bow.
3. "Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Wounded and weary, Help me, I pray! Power, all power Surely is Thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
4. "Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Hold o'er my being Absolute sway! Fill with Thy Spirit Till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me.

(Words by Adelaide A. Pollard; Music by George C. stebbins)

Yet another classic hymn that has been sung among the brotherhood for several years.

First of all, as we go by our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we see a unique situation (at least unique for all the commentaries that have been done here so far) where this song fits all three categories! It is a psalm (for extolling God's power [particularly in the 3rd verse] and His work), a hymn (being a song of supplication), and a spiritual song (intended to inspire or cultivate feelings of spiritual devotion and bring the spirit of man under control of the Spirit of God).  That seems to be quite a bit to pack into one song!

Adelaide Pollard wrote many hymns during what is referred to as the the Moody-Sankey era (something this author needs to research further) but never desired recognition for them.  No one is certain how many hymns she wrote, because she very seldom signed her name to them.  As Warren Shiver writes in his work "Stories Behind the Hymns":

• Adelaide Pollard was forty-five years old when in 1907 she visited a prayer meeting, where she was inspired to write her most famous hymn. It was a simple phrase from a simple but sincere prayer that impressed her. For in offering her prayer, an elderly woman omitted the usual beseeching of the Lord to shower blessings upon her and the prayer meeting group, but instead she told God that it didn’t matter what he brought into their lives, but “Just have your own way with us”. As Adelaide left the prayer meeting that night the phrase from that prayer, “Have Thine own way”, rang in her mind. On the way home she formed the lyrics in her mind and before going to bed that night, she wrote the words on paper.  Shortly afterwards, George Coles Stebbins set the words to music, and “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” was ready for the Christian world, and all because of a simple phrase in a simple prayer.

Every verse begins with the simple supplication that is also the title of the song: "Have Thine own way, Lord!  Have Thine own way!"  The first verse goes further to state that "Thou art the Potter, I am the clay!"  This is reminiscent of when the prophet was commanded to go to the potter's house where the Lord would speak to him in Jeremiah 18.  While there, he sees a potter working on a vessel that had been spoiled during its crafting and begins to rework it into another vessel "as it seemed good to the potter to do" (Jer 18:4).  God then tells Jeremiah that when He promises destruction or some other judgment on any rebellious people, if they repent and change their hearts and minds, then He too will repent and spare them (unfortunately, the opposite is true for any people promised good tidings if they become rebellious!).  The apostle Paul goes further with this parable illustration when he asks, "Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?'  Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (Rom 9:20-21).  So it only makes sense when the hymn writer continues by requesting the Lord to "Mold me and make me After Thy will, While I am waiting, Yielded and still."  Would that we could all be molded by Him into vessels of honorable use!

In the second verse, after the title introduction, the song writer makes certain requests of the Lord similar to King David's requests in the 51st and 139th Psalms.  "Search me and try me, Master, today (Psalm 139:23-24-- "Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!")!  Whiter than snow, Lord, Wash me just now (Psalm 51:2, 7-- "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!...  wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."), as in Thy presence humbly I bow (Psalm 51:16, 17-- "For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.")."

In the third verse, the writer oscillates between supplication and praise.  Request: "Wounded and weary, Help me, I pray!" (see notes for this in the last line, "Touch me and heal me....")  Praise: "Power, all power Surely is Thine!" (Psalm 62:11; 1Tim 6:15-16)  Request: "Touch me and heal me, Savior divine." (There are many examples of the Lord healing people, and as John says in closing his own book, if every one of them was recorded this world could not contain such a book [John 21:25].  But perhaps the sentiment born out by the writer of this song is best described by then-blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:47 when he cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!")

The last verse makes two final requests.  The first one, "Hold o'er (over) my being Absolute sway!" means to have complete rule of me.  Paul even goes so far as to implore that we present ourselves as living sacrifices (our "reasonable service", Romans 12:1).  By sacrificing ourselves, we are giving ourselves completely to God.  The second request is "Fill with Thy Spirit Till all shall see Christ only, always, Living in me."  Although being filled with the Spirit seems to take on a miraculous connotation, one can read in Ephesians 5:17 onward and other supporting verses that such is not the case (and God told us through Paul that miracles[e.g.-- prophecies, tongues, etc.] would end when that which is perfect had come, 1 Corinthians 13:10).  He begins by warning us not to be "foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  And he continues to caution us "not [to] get drunk with wine,...but be filled with the Spirit."  Paul reminds us that it is written:

• "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

During the first century, the Spirit imparted the will of God directly to the Apostles and anyone else whom He decided to inspire (2 Peter 1:19-21). Now that the Word of God is complete (1 Corinthians 13:10), men are not inspired with new revelation anymore, no longer being filled with the Spirit in that way.  Instead, we have the Word to read and by which to receive revelation, this Word being written by these inspired men (2 Peter 1:19-21) who wrote these things being given dictation, as it were, by the Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Therefore, we receive a filling of the Spirit through the reading of the Word.

And of course, our goal as Christians is for all to see Christ living in us.  When we put on Christ via water immersion (aka- baptism), we are immersed into His death (Rom 6:3), as such we are "crucified with Christ" as Paul reminds us in Galatians 2:20; "nevertheless, [we] live, yet not [we] but Christ lives in [us]"!

Again, I welcome your thoughts…

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