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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Erik says:
It’s always been about redemption!
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We need to come clean with God and receive freedom and forgiveness through his redemption. As long as we try to save ourselves, nothing will come of it.
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Trust God more. Spend less time for God and more time with God.
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Jesus, help me to focus on your redemption and your sacrifice. Help me to spend time with You and make my heart open and available to You. Thank You for who You are in my life.
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Dalton Beaty says:
We never fail to focus on the here and now, the things that we have and can feel and touch. Yes those are all blessings, but how can we even consider any of these blessings without our preeminent blessing that is Jesus.
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I must keep the Gospel, and the blessing of Jesus’ death fresh in my mind, heart, and soul so that I always consider it my first blessing. All these others that are in my life are a direct result of the first one, JESUS.
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God is the ultimate blessing, and he is responsible for all of the consequent blessings that follow the one true and significant blessing – the sending of his son to fulfill the law. Without that blessing, we have nothing. Obviously, the life that we live and the material things that we have are a blessing from God himself, but none of these mean anything if Christ did not die on that tree.
Galatians 3:14 – “So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” -
The Gospel is the most important blessing in our history, and until Christ returns it will remain that way.
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I will pray for forgiveness for overlooking the significance of Christ’s death being my blessing, the most important blessing that I can ever claim.
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Dereck says:
This teaches me that God is a forgiving God. He extends his blessing of salvation to the entire earth so that we all may have eternal life with Him in heaven. He loves us unconditionally.
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Man is Sunil and has a tendency to put the law first and live by it. Instead we should live by faith. We need to disrobe ourselves before God so that we might be robed with righteousness and filled with the Holy Spirit in every facet of our lives.
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The Gospel is the truth. Anyone who repents their wrong doings to the Lord, and whole heartedly means it, will be covered by the blood of the Lamb and their sins will be cancelled in the sight out our God. God loves us and offers us His promise of an eternal home in heaven with Him.
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I give my all to Him. I pray for guidance, for strength to go against the desires of the flesh. I pray that my sins are forgiven and that they are covered by His precious blood. I’ve loved a life that was far from perfect but I put my faith in Him. I long to live by faith and not by the law of the world. I pray to be a beacon to the people around me, to find God in every facet of my life.
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For forgiveness of my wrong doings, of my selfishness, of my sinful nature, of the desires of the flesh. For strength to withstand the temptations of satan. For guidance through this life to stay on path with God’s will for me. To be closer with God in my daily walk with Him. To be a light to my students and my family.
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Andy says:
God blesses me with the gift of repentance. I am clothed in Him and Him alone if I truly am a Christian.
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Nos da la oportunidad de arrepentirnos y ganar esta ventaja
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We are broken and need to admit this before we can become clothed by God
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Es necesario que me quite estas ropas sucias y que me ponga la gloria y gracia de Dios.
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Clark Eggen says:
God saved us from our sins which is a blessing in itself.
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Man cannot be blessed without God.
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