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Jason Hardin
Sun of my
soul, Thou Savior dear, When the
soft dews of kindly sleep Abide with
me from morn till eve, Come near
and bless us when we wake, The son of an Anglican country preacher, John Keble was educated at Oxford University. In 1827, he published a volume of poems entitled The Christian Year: Thoughts In Verse For The Sundays And Holy Days Throughout The Year. "Sun Of My Soul" was one of the poems from that collection. Being an extremely modest man, Keble had his book of poems published anonymously. However, The Christian Year was an instant success, being printed in 109 editions before his death in 1866. In 1831, Keble was named a professor of poetry at Oxford, where he would serve for ten years. By the end of his life, he had written more than 760 hymns, as well as a companion book of tunes which he composed or collected to be used with his lyrics. In meditating upon the lyrics of "Sun Of My Soul," one is reminded of Psalm 84:8-12: "O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold, our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!" Building on the assurance that "the Lord God is a sun and shield," Keble wrote this beautiful metaphor for the Christian’s relationship with the Father in heaven. His lyrics capture the thoughts of David as they are expressed in Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?" The apostle Peter also used such imagery as he wrote "to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours" (2 Peter 1:1): "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’–and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:16-19). Indeed, Jesus refers to Himself in Revelation 22:16 as "the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." Building on this analogy, "Sun Of My Soul" is an intimate prayer to God. In verse 1, we profess that as long as the Savior is with us, there is no night. This thought is reminiscent of David’s words in Psalm 23:4, "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me." Perhaps the strongest sentiment expressed in verse 1 is the prayerful determination: "O may no earthborn cloud arise to hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes!" The Lord is "my light and my salvation!" His word is "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). But too often, I am content to allow the earthborn fogs of materialism, pride, and conformity to this world to cloud my vision of what the Majestic Glory clearly wants for me and from me. The following verses can certainly be seen to contain a type of dual meaning. They are pleas that the Savior would be our last thought and that, in our "sleep," He would abide with us. The last verse is a prayer for blessing when we "wake." Does Keble have in mind physical rest from the labors and trials of this world? Or, does he chiefly have in mind our passing from this life into the next? A strong sign of good writing is solid meaning that can be inferred on a variety of different levels. As I sing Keble’s lyrics, I am reminded of Paul’s encouragement to the Christians in Corinth: "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven...For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life...Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord–for we walk by faith, not by sight–we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:1-8). I encourage you to take the time to meditate on these beautiful words written nearly 200 years ago. Make Keble’s metaphor a part of your personal prayers: "O may no earthborn cloud arise to hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes!" When your "wearied eyelids gently steep," relish the assurance that there is no greater thought at the end of the day than abiding with Jesus. And determine, above all else, that you will navigate the dangerous paths of this world faithfully, "till in the ocean of His love, we lose ourselves in heaven above."
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