Have Thine Own Way, Lord (This Far By Faith 200)
1 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.
2 Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Search me and try me,
Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord,
wash me just now,
as in thy presence
humbly I bow.
3 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!
4 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!
Text: Adelaide Pollard; Public Domain
Devotion
This hymn was one of my grandmother’s and my mother’s favorite hymns. I count it as one of my favorite hymns too because of the imagery of the potter and the clay. This hymn not only comforts me, but it challenges me. I love the thought of “Christ only, always, living in me.”
Adelaide Pollard wrote this hymn when she was distressed after being unable to raise money to go to Africa as a missionary in the late 1890s. She attended a prayer meeting in 1902 and was inspired after hearing an older woman pray, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord–just have your way with our lives.”
Prayer
Dear Potter, take this clay and fill me with your Spirit for the betterment of the community around me. Amen.