"Have Thine Own Way, Lord"

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

by Adelaide Pollard

I read this interesting information today on "Cyber Hymnal":

Miss Pollard died on De­cem­ber 20, 1934, in New York City. As seven­ty-two year old Miss Adelaide was en­route from her New York Ci­ty home to a New Jer­sey town dur­ing the Christ­mas Hol­i­days in 1934 where she was to hold some re­li­gious meet­ings, she be­came cri­ti­cal­ly ill in the New York Ci­ty rail­road sta­tion. She was rushed to a near­by Y.W.C.A. home where she died short­ly there­af­ter, death be­ing at­trib­ut­ed to a rup­tured ap­pen­dix.

Pol­lard be­lieved the Lord want­ed her in Af­ri­ca as a mis­sion­a­ry, but she was un­a­ble to raise funds to go. In an un­cer­tain state of mind, she at­tend­ed a pray­er meet­ing, where she heard an el­der­ly wo­man pray, “It’s all right, Lord. It does­n’t mat­ter what You bring in­to our lives, just have Your own way with us.” At home that night, much en­cour­aged, she wrote this hymn:

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

"Have Thine own way, Lord..." This is a very hard lesson. I needed this today. I hope spending some time meditating upon these words will be an encouragement to you also.

Jeremiah 18:1-6 - The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Isaiah 64:8 - But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.