From Greenland’s Icy Mountains

A brilliant man, who came from a family noted for distinguished scholarship, Reginald Heber had a passion for missions. (He was to spend much of his life in India, Australia, and Ceylon.) He also wrote hymns, many of which encouraged missionary work.

One Saturday in 1819, his father-in-law asked Heber if he knew a missionary hymn that could be used at a service the next day. Heber, who was born on this day in 1783 in northern England (just south of Liverpool), quickly wrote three verses of a new hymn.

His father-in-law was thrilled with these verses, but, feeling the hymn was incomplete, Heber wrote a fourth verse. That final four-verse form was sung the next day, and, it rapidly became known as one of the great missionary hymns.

Heber described how people in every part of the world need the Gospel. “From Greenland’s icy mountains, from India’s coral strand; where Africa’s sunny fountains roll down their golden sand.” They may live near “an ancient river” or “a palmy plain” but we still are called “to deliver their land from error’s chain.”

He wrote about the unbeliever who “in his blindness bows down to wood and stone,” and how much such people need Jesus: “Salvation! O salvation! The joyful sound proclaim, till earth’s remotest nation has learned Messiah’s Name.”

The world still needs the Gospel. Ask God to give you compassion for the millions who have never heard of Jesus, and those who have rejected Him. Remember that there are people all around you who aren’t saved. Pray for these people. Look for open doors to share your testimony. And dedicate your time, talent, and treasure to reaching lost Souls for Jesus.