Ruined Hymn: O Thou That Hear’st When Sinners Cry

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you’re curious why the audio is so poor on this one, read the intro to the other hymn I recorded this morning, Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness.

Now, instead of saying more to introduce or apologize for this song, I say a word about the lyricist. When I get to heaven, Sir Isaac Watts will either give me a bloody nose or a big hug. I’m not sure which. Reason? His are the hymns I most tend to ruin. I don’t know why I pick on him so, but often I have the words set to a new arrangement before I ever look at the hymn author. Sorry Isaac.

O Thou That Hear’st When Sinners Cry

Words: Isaac Watts, 1719
Music: Justin Brock, 7/17/2009¹

O Thou that hear’st when sinners cry,
Though all my crimes before Thee lie,
Behold them not with angry look,
But blot their mem’ry from Thy book.

Create my nature pure within,
And form my soul averse to sin:
Let Thy good Spirit ne’er depart,
Nor hide Thy presence from my heart.

I cannot live without Thy light
Cast out and banished from Thy sight:
Thine holy joys, my God, restore,
And guard me that I fall no more.

A broken heart, my God, my King,
Is all the sacrifice I bring;
The God of grace will ne’er despise
A broken heart for sacrifice.

My soul lies humbled in the dust,
And owns Thy dreadful sentence just:
Look down, O Lord, with pitying eye,
And save the soul condemned to die.

Then will I teach the world Thy ways;
Sinners shall learn Thy sovereign grace;
I’ll lead them to my Savior’s blood,
And they shall praise a pard’ning God.