Do Not I Love Thee?

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This song has been ministering to my heart since I first heard it, but it has been on my mind a lot this past week.

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart and see;
And turn each cursèd idol out,
That dares to rival Thee.

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Then let me nothing love;
Dead be my heart to every joy,
When Jesus cannot move.

Within the darkness of this heart,
Other gods would vie for my affections.
But Thou art exalted far above all gods.
Let nothing keep me from Thy love.

Thou know’st I love Thee, dearest Lord,
But O, I long to soar
Far from the sphere of mortal joys,
And learn to love Thee more!

I don’t know about you, but for me, the other gods vying for my affection seems almost constant. I do pray that the Lord will “turn each cursed idol out that dares to rival” Him and help me “learn to love [Him] more.”

This is the version as sung by the Soundforth Choir on the CD “More Like You, Lord.” The hymn was written by Philp Doddridge, published in 1755 after his death. More of the verses to the original hymn can be found on Cyberhymnal. The tune there by Elizabeth Cuthbert is not one I am familar with. The interlude in stanza 3 above, the music, and the orchestration were written by Craig Curry.

2 thoughts on “Do Not I Love Thee?”

  1. I love the poem/song!!! Thank you for blogging this and know I feel the same way…things are always trying to get my attention away from Christ and it’s only through Him that I can make any headway. Looking forward to reading more of your blogs.
    God bless you my sister.
    Psalm 143:8

  2. This is one of the most beautiful anthems I have ever heard, and is, to me, the truest picture of the Christian journey. Our choir sang this in church this morning, and I just had to come home and see if I could find the lyrics to keep near at hand. Thank you for putting them on the web where I could find them!!

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