Abide with Me

This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband.

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Change and decay in all around I see,
O, Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I’ve worked in a nursing home for the past 15 years. Recently, especially while at work, this hymn has been on my mind. It uses evening as a metaphor to describe the close of life, the last few rays of waning life on earth before “heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee.” I find myself singing it to myself whenever I take care of someone who is nearing death. Although the hymn does focus on trusting in God as life comes to a close, there is wisdom here for all of life. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

There are some attributes of God that we probably think about regularly. He’s omnipotent, he’s eternal, and his steadfast love endures forever. But his immutability… that might not be something we think about often. We’re surrounded by change every minute of every day. I’m not the same now as I was when I started writing this reflection. The sun rises and sets, the earth rotates, the seasons change, and my kids get older all the time. Change is in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and it’s as natural to us as breathing or eating or drinking. We’re so used to it, that we might just naturally assume that God must change over time too. But God is outside of time. He doesn’t change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Not only do we see things change, but even worse, we see things all around us decay. I saw the plants and flowers in my garden wither and die quite recently. Our own bodies are breaking down. You probably have a friend or family member who has died. We see death and decay all around us. We see life and new birth too, but there’s no denying that sin has infected this whole place. But there is one who doesn’t change. There is one whose body never saw corruption. There is hope that indeed one day these perishable bodies will be raised imperishable.

These few lines give such comfort for those of us who have fled for refuge to Jesus. God will keep his promises. He doesn’t change his mind, and he cannot lie. We might be burdened with the weight of loss, of uncertain times, or of feeling the approach of a close friend’s death. But God is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. When it seems that all we see is change and decay, there is one who never changes who will draw near to us and comfort us. We can even ask him to draw near by singing this prayer: “O, Thou who changest not, abide with me.”

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So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:17-20