By Guest Writer
Few hymn writers have had a greater impact on Christian worship than Isaac Watts. With more than 750 hymns to his name, Watts has been dubbed the Father of English Hymnody for good reason, penning some of the most beloved worship refrains in the English-speaking world.
From the triumphant “Joy to the World,” celebrating the Savior’s birth, to the moving “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” reflecting on the Savior’s death, Watts packs profound gospel truths into memorable poetic phrases with every lyric he writes.
Watts’ gospel truth packed into poetic phrase is on bright display in today’s hymn. As the title indicates, Watts wanted to deepen our worship of God by growing our understanding of true blessing and reflecting on the nature of repentant faith.
“Blessing” is a word we throw around a lot. We get a promotion at work, or a new healthy baby is born, and we say we are blessed. As a kid in Sunday School, I remember having to list out my blessings: my baseball bat, hot dogs, the swimming pool, and yes, even my sister. I was taught that every good thing in my life was, in some way, a blessing from God.
What I didn’t understand then was that the concept of “blessing” is far more than physical or material favors from God. In fact, blessing lies at the center of God’s redemptive purpose. In Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham that through him the blessing of salvation will extend to all the families of the earth. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells us this blessing to Abraham extends to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:13-14).
Watts, in this hymn, reflects on the blessing of salvation and how we receive it through repentant faith in Jesus Christ. Repentant faith begins when “sins with sorrow are confessed.” When truly grieved and broken over our sin, we come out of hiding. We must step out from behind the trees and the fig leaves (Genesis 3) and acknowledge our sin before God (Psalm 32:5).
If we do this, scary as it is, God will give us grace. We will be “covered with the Savior’s blood.” In a paradox that lies at the heart of the gospel, Watts teaches us that we must disrobe in order to be robed. We must own our guilt before God in order to know “how glorious is that righteousness that hides and cancels all my sin.”
When we begin to experience the power of God’s grace covering our shame and guilt, a new life takes hold. We become new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and “the bright evidences of grace” begin to “appear and shine” in every facet of our lives. This is what it means to be blessed.
Blest is the man who knows the grace of our God.
Written By Nate Shurden
Blest is the Man, Forever Blest
Isaac Watts, 1719
Blest is the man, forever blest,
Whose guilt is pardoned by his God,
Whose sins with sorrow are confessed
And covered with his Savior’s blood.
Blest is the man to whom the Lord
Imputes not his iniquities;
He pleads no merit of reward
And not on works but grace relies.
From guile his heart and lips are free;
His humble joy, his holy fear,
With deep repentance well agree
And join to prove his faith sincere.
How glorious is that righteousness
That hides and cancels all his sins,
While bright the evidence of grace
Thro’ all his life appears and shines!
For an added layer of worship during reading plan, we’ve created a Spotify playlist for Hymns. You can find the complete HRT Hymns Playlist here, or listen to the first track on the player below. Enjoy!
101 thoughts on "Blest Is the Man"
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Matthew Parkolap says:
He needs to repent and really on Gods grace. But the repentant man is free and blessed! He no longer has to try to cover his own sin but can follow after Christ with confidence and no guilt or remorse
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Lord, according to your great wisdom help me to see where my sin lies so that i may turn and repent of it and receive your pardon and blessing according to your great mercy and grace.
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Kraymer Lorig says:
God wants to bless us. We cannot choose our blessings, but we really do need to be more aware of the countless blessings that the Lord has given to us.
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Everyone is blessed in one way or another.
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Pray for my eyes to be opened to the many blessings that God is giving to me. And that I do not take any of those blessings for granted.
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Andrew C says:
This is the Good News. Jesus has paid for all of our sins and has forgiven us of all our inequities. We mess up after asking for forgiveness time and time again, and He still loves us.
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This teaches me that man does have great sin and we don’t always want to admit to that. Although we may brag about our sin to our friends, we are afraid to bring our sin into light in fear that we will be exposed and uncomfortable. When in reality, being uncomfortably exposed by His light is the very thing that can change your heart forever.
We need to have humility and acknowledge our sin before Him so that we may experience His forgiveness and love and be changed by that. -
This teaches me that we do not only serve a God who loves us, but a God who cares for us enough to send His only son so that we may have a chance to one day live with Him. Some never accept what He has to offer, but the ones who do are changed from the inside out and God wants them to go and help more people believe not so He can be popular among people, but so His people have a chance to live again.
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I will try to be more humble in my ways and if I fall into sin that I would admit that and brig that begin The Lord right away. Not let that sin sit and build on it.
Also, I will try to forgive those like Christ forgave me. He has forgiven me for far more than anyone in this world could do to me, so I need to be an example and be gracious and forgiving as He was to me. -
Joel Selby says:
I will continually renew my will towards God every day and in all things that I do, big and small. I will seek first His kingdom and righteousness in all that I do. I will confess my sins, repent, and forsake them when I become aware of them—then forget about them as God forgets about them.
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I can’t do anything to achieve salvation; in order to truly understand grace, I have to understand that receiving God’s blessing isn’t dependent on my acts. However, my will is an important factor that God wants in line: in order to receive His blessing, I have to be open to it first, or I will never receive it.
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God wants to hear from me about my sins, though He knows them all. In fact, confession of my sins to Him is the first step towards receiving His blessing; He will not make me do anything against my will, though He gives opportunities to turn to Him every moment of every day.
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The good news for me is that when I continually renew my will towards God, confessing my sins and forsaking them, and I continually realign my will towards following Jesus, God will hear me and renew His blessing on me.
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Peter MacDiarmid says:
That his salvation is unstoppable, he loves and wants to save and bless us but still asks us to repent and turn away from our sin.
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I must repent more regularly of my sins and not just take it for granted I’m forgiven
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It is the power of salvation for all of us
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That we have a God who wants to bless us, even though we sin and are a broken people.
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I must repent of my sins, I must confess them and he is faithful to forgive them
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Braden Mcalister says:
This teaches me that God is merciful and powerful. Also that God is loving and caring .
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This teaches me that man can’t just be blessed for the good things because that is wrong
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