At the Cross

Fanny Crosby struggled to find peace. Born in 1820, she had been blinded while still an infant. Yet instead of making her blindness an excuse, she became one of history’s great hymn writers.

Even though Crosby had become a believer as a child, as a young girl she felt that something was missing. In November 1850, she joined other Christians attending revival meetings. Hungry for more, she returned, night after night. Then, on November 20, she had a breakthrough while the congregation sang “Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed,” a hymn written by Isaac Watts in 1707.

Watts wrote this hymn to express how deeply he realized that he owed everything to God. “Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?” Watts was amazed that “Christ, the mighty Maker, died for man, the creature’s sins.” His heart was dissolved “in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes to tears.”

He found himself “at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away.” We can imagine how Fanny Crosby, in her blindness, would respond to Watts’ inspiring refrain that “It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!”

As she sang the last verse, she was stirred by the hymn’s words: “Here, Lord I give myself away ‘tis all that I can do.” Realizing that she needed to yield herself fully to Jesus, she later recalled, “I surrendered myself to the Savior, and my very soul flooded with celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting ‘Hallelujah.’”

Today, think about all that Jesus has done for you. Surrender your life to Him. He is the Lamb of God who died for you. He has taken away your every sin!