O
HAPPY DAY
The
name Philip Doddridge may not mean anything to you unless you are one
who pays attention to the authors of spiritual songs as they are
identified in our song books. Philip Doddridge was born on June 26,
1702. He was the twentieth child born to his mother, Monica
Doddridge. However, only one
of his siblings lived to see his introduction into this world. All
but one
before him had died in infancy. Even at Philip's birth he was
thought to be stillborn. But while being laid aside, thinking him to
have no life in him, he cried out.
His
mother, grateful for this life that had been given into her trust,
determined to raise him for the Lord. As a child, she would hold him
on her lap in front of the fireplace which was lined with Delft tiles
illustrating the stories of the bible's history and she would teach
him those marvelous stories. It was there that the beginnings of his
faith was molded and he learned to appreciate the truths of God's
word.
When
his mother died he became an orphan whose faith buoyed him beyond his
loss. In his diary he wrote, "God is an immortal Father, my
soul rejoices in Him; He hath hitherto helped me and provided for me;
may it be my study to approve myself a more affectionate, grateful,
and dutiful child." In the sentiment of those words he would
eventually dedicate his life to serve God and became a writer and
author of over 400 spiritual songs, some of which remain popular even
now.
Famous
among those songs is "O Happy Day", whose lyrics reflect
his joy in spite of having been orphaned early in his life, living in
deep poverty, suffering ill health from a young age, and yet having
fixed his choice on the Savior. This joy carried him though his life
to the day of his death on October 26, 1751.
O
happy day that fixed my choice
On
Thee, my Savior and my God!
Well
may this glowing heart rejoice,
And
tell its raptures all abroad!
Tis
done, the great transaction's done;
I
am my Lord's, and He is mine!
He
drew me, and I followed on,
Charmed
to confess the voice divine.
Happy
day, happy day,
When
Jesus washed my sins away.
He
taught me how to watch and pray,
And
live rejoicing every day;
Happy
day, happy day,
When
Jesus washed my sins away.
Everyone
who has ever put on Christ in baptism for the remission of their sins
can relate to the appropriateness of the words of this song. They
proclaim the joys of a special moment in time that is to define the
rest of their life. David wrote of such blessings that are worthy of
our joy and our praise to the Lord, saying that "He has not
dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our
iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is
His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the
west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psm.
103:10-12) It is a joy like none other, when one's past is forever
removed from the divine record and they are allowed to start all
over, beginning with a clean slate upon which to write all the days
of their new life in Christ.
Saul,
who would become the apostle Paul, experienced that joy three days
after his frightful encounter on the road to Damascus and his
immediate humility that drove him to ask Jesus, "Lord, what do
you want me to do?" (Acts 9:6) Then, after those three days of
prayer and fasting in the dark of his blindness (vs. 9), Ananias came
to him and laid his hands on Saul and his sight was restored. (vss.
17-18) It was after this that Ananias said to him, And now why are
you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash
away your sins,
calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16)
Paul
would share in that same joy with a jailer and his family in the city
of Phillipi, but not before having been beaten with rods and then put
in stocks in the deepest confines of the prison by this same jailer.
Their unpleasant encounter with each other eventually led to Paul's
release from prison and the jailer asking, "What must I do to be
saved?" (Acts 16:30) Paul and Silas on that occasion "...spoke
the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he
took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And
immediately he and all his family were baptized." (vss. 32-33)
The reaction of this jailer was a familiar one; "...he
rejoiced,
having believed in God with all his household." (vs. 34)
When
we read of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch we see this same
response. Philip "...preached Jesus to him. Now as they went
down the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'See,
here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?' Then Philip
said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered
and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' So he
commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up
out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that
the eunuch saw him no more; and
he went on his way rejoicing."
(Acts 8:35-39)
That
joy is not intended to be but for a little while. As the song says,
"He drew me, and
I followed on."
Let us all
remember that "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the
Lord,
so walk in Him,
rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have
been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." (Col. 2:6-7)
-
Gary V. Womack - July 2005