Lha Wangdi
(The story of this hymn and its author appears below.)
Chorus:
O Jesus, Thy great love, it is so wonderful,
Transcending sea and stars in the sky,
Greater than mountains so high!
O Jesus, Thy great love…
My heart is bubbling and full, with joy abundant and free;
O Lord, how wonderful, are all Thy workings in me!
From morn to evening, from e’en to morning,
Thou art so praiseworthy!
From morn to evening, from e’en to morning,
Thou art so praiseworthy!
Thou art so praiseworthy!
Oh how my life is crushed, when sorrow flows o’er me!
Then do I cry to Thee, “Lord, show Thy mercy to me!”
Before I call Him, He always answers,
“Fear not, I am with thee.”
Before I call Him, He always answers,
“Fear not, I am with thee.
Fear not, I am with thee.”
E’en though Thy way for me leads through the dark of night,
I know thy path for me will in the end lead to light.
Thou art my Shepherd, and Thou wilt lead me;
Thou art always with me.
Thou art my Shepherd, and Thou wilt lead me;
Thou art always with me.
Thou art always with me.
Emptied of all though I be, I have no fear in my heart;
Pleasant green pastures I see, from Him I’ll never depart;
With food and water He satisfies me;
He is so near to me!
With food and water He satisfies me;
He is so near to me!
He is so near to me!
His Name I'll always praise, and in His house I’ll sing;
With all my heart and soul, I shall adore my King!
Of all our praises He is so worthy—
Hallelujah! Amen!
Of all our praises He is so worthy—
Hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Amen!
Here is the story about this hymn and its author, as related to me by WEC missionary Hester Withey (1913-2010), who served in southern China in the late 1940s, and then in northern India from 1951 into the 1980s. Having served in and near Nepal for nearly twenty years, Hester was very familiar with the churches of the area. In a letter (dated 3 December 1984) she sent to my wife and me (just before my first teaching trip to India later that month), Hester related the following:
Now about the story behind the hymn “O Jesus, Thy Great Love”— One of the churches associated with Bro. Bakht Singh of India (though not founded by him), located in the Darjeeling District in West Bengal, India, is the Kalimpong Assembly, Kalimpong being the name of the town in which it is located. These assemblies take the names of God as the names of their premises. So this one is called “El Shaddai.” One of the elders of that group is named Bro. Fudong, a Lepcha by race, though all the folks in that area are Nepali-speaking, and the church is mostly composed of Nepali people as the predominant race, even though they are all in India, and are Indian citizens.
One of Brother Fudong’s sons was named Lha Wangdi. He went off to the army — partly to get a job and partly to get away from the narrow restrictions of his life in a Christian community, as I think he felt. I’m not certain to what extent he was rebelling, but I’m sure there was some real rebellion in his heart. He was prayed for, of course, by the family and church. The army sent him to various places in southeast Asia, particularly Hong Kong. Somewhere he contracted a serious illness. I never knew what it was, but it was considered incurable, even by Army doctors. He was sent home, demobilized by the Army. Really, it amounted to being sent home to die. He had been married to the daughter of one of the other elders, too, and they had a baby. She had been working in the Army as a teacher of the children of Army personnel, but usually in some place other than where he was. So they had not had much family life together. Their paths may have crossed some, but not very much.
Anyway, he came home to die. But he came back to the Lord, and was very repentant about the way he had rebelled against the Lord; and now he had so short a time to live! But the Lord gave him three hymns that have become the most loved and most sung of almost any of their hymns. Most of those they sing have been composed by one or the other of their own members, or by other members of other churches that are linked with them as a body of churches under Bro. Bakht Singh’s general leadership, under God. They use their own tunes, also, and their own type of music, instruments and rhythms. This song is one of the three the Lord gave to Lha Wangdi during the weeks he was alive before his death in Kalimpong. His time there after being in the Army was several months in duration, so his influence began to tell for the Lord in the community, especially as everyone knew he did not have long to stay among them. So, “O Jesus, Thy Great Love” had deep meaning to him.
The other two [hymns] were about themes that had special meaning, knowing his life story. One was “We can have no trust in this old world,” or, maybe a better translation would be: “We can have no trust in life.” The third one was “Lift up your eyes to the Lord!”
The one you have has been translated into many Indian languages also. That one, more than the other two, seems to have travelled the world. What a precious ministry this was that the Lord gave His child at the end when it seemed the time had been wasted. It’s never too late with Jesus — He can mend the broken vessels and use them again!
Love,
Hester
