God's Workings

There is a story related about a young man named Nicholaus von Zinzendorf*:

“As a young man, Count von Zinzendorf visited an art gallery in Germany.  Admiring the various, priceless paintings, he was suddenly transfixed by one.  As the curator of the art gallery made his rounds, he noticed this young man gazing intently at that painting hour after hour.  Finally when it came time to close the gallery, the young Count was still there.  At last the curator went to him and put his hand on his shoulder.  He was about to tell him that he must leave when he saw tears streaming down the young man’s cheeks.  There in front of Count von Zinzendorf was a magnificient painting of the slain Lamb of God beneath which were the Words, ‘All this I did for thee.  What hast thou done for Me?’  Before that painting [a depiction!] of the crucified Christ, the Holy Spirit spoke; and Nicholas von Zinzendorf from that day had a broken heart.

“What is a true heart?  It is a heart that is broken, broken from self and offered up to God.”

It has been said that “possibly the purest of all revivals was that which took place among the Moravians under the leadership of Count von Zinzendorf.  And what was the key to that great movement of God?  The key was the worship of the slain Lamb.”

As I read this account, it reminded me of a similar story with which I am very familiar recounted about the beloved Frances Ridley Havergal, the English hymnwriter and consecration poet*:

Frances’ well-known hymn, ‘I gave my life for thee,’ was written in Germany, 1858.  She had come in weary and sat down opposite a picture with this motto.  At once the lines flashed upon her, and she wrote them in pencil on a scrap of paper.  Reading them over, they did not satisfy her.  She tossed them into the fire, but they fell out untouched!  Showing them some months after to her father, he encouraged her to preserve them, and wrote the tune “Baca” specially for them.

One can not help but wonder if these two dear servants of God gazed upon the same picture with similar results–surrendering themselves unreservedly to God and His purposes by the workings of the Holy Spirit!  Both Frances and the Count saw the picture in Germany, and the theme and meaning of the picture and its title left lasting impressions on their souls.   Here is Frances’ hymn, still sung today in many Churches from their hymnals:

‘I did this for thee!  What hast thou 

                       done for Me?’

                  

(MOTTO PLACED UNDER A PICTURE OF OUR

SAVIOUR IN THE STUDY OF A GERMAN DIVINE.)

I gave My life for thee,                                       Gal. 2:20

   My precious blood I shed,                            1 Pet. 1:19   

That thou might’st ransomed be,                    Eph. 1:7

   And quickened from the dead.                     Eph. 2:1

I gave My life for thee;                                        Tit. 2:14

What hast thou given for Me?                          John 21:15-17

I spent long years for thee                               1 Tim. 1:15

   In weariness and woe,                                     Isa. 53:3

That an eternity                                                    John 17:24

   Of  joy thou mightest know.                          John 16:22

I spent long years for thee;                              John 1:10, 11

Hast thou spent one for me?                           1 Pet. 4:2

My father’s home of light,                                 John 17:5

   My rainbow-circled throne,                         Rev. 4:3

I left, for earthly night,                                      Phil. 2:7

   For wanderings sad and lone.                      Matt. 7:20

I left it all for thee:                                              2 Cor. 8:9

Hast thou left aught for Me?                            Luke 10:29

I suffered much for thee,                                  Isa. 53:9

   More than thy tongue may tell,                  Matt. 26:39

Of bitterest agony,                                               Luke 22:44

   To rescue thee from hell.                               Rom. 5:9

I suffered much for thee;                                 1Pet. 2:21-24

What canst thou bear for Me?                         Rom. 8:17, 18

And I have brought to thee,                            John 4:10, 14

Down from my Home above,                          John 3:13

Salvation full and free,                                       Rev. 21:6

My pardon and My love.                                   Acts 5:31

Great gifts I brought to thee;                           Ps. 68:18

What hast thou brought to Me?                      Rom. 8:17, 18

Oh, let thy life be given,                                     Rom. 6:13

   Thy years for Him be spent,                         2 Cor. 5:15

World-fetters all be riven,                                 Phil. 3:8

   And joy with suffering blent;                       1 Pet. 4:13-16

I gave Myself for thee:                                         Eph. 5:2           

Give thou thyself to Me!                                      Pro. 23:28

What beautiful thoughts and words given to God’s people.  Frances, being dead, yet speaketh!

*HOW TO WORSHIP JESUS CHRIST,

Joseph S. Carroll (1984), Moody Press, Chicago

*MEMORIALS; THE POETICAL WORKS,

Frances Ridley Havergal