Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

BY Kaitlin Wernet

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:5-12, Romans 8:26-30, 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, Hebrews 9:11-14

I don’t have just one sweet tooth. I have a mouth full of them. But don’t tell my dentist, because the mere mention will probably pre-qualify me for a shiny set of dentures down the road. Chocolate chip cookie dough, funnel cakes with powdered sugar, sour gummies that make your mouth pucker—I’m here for all of it.

Candy, along with other types of “sweets,” like newborn kittens and handwritten notes, are indulgences, unnecessary delights. But when Louisa Stead wrote the hymn, “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” I don’t think it was in response to cotton candy swirls or a beautiful stroll in the park.

In fact, it was a very tragic day at Long Island Sound. What began as a perfectly sunny morning for Louisa, her husband, and their young daughter, Lily, quickly turned into the unfortunate. They sat on the embankment together enjoying a picnic lunch when, all of a sudden, they were interrupted by the sights and sounds of a young boy drowning in the water. Louisa’s husband jumped in after him, but neither the boy nor the man attempting to rescue him survived. Walking away from the scene a grieving widow and single parent, Louisa’s circumstances were anything but sweet. Yet, these are the words she chose to write:

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

When our lives reflect the brokenness of this world, it is then that we see trusting Jesus for what it truly is: an absolute necessity. We need Him, but His trustworthiness is what makes trusting Him with our need so much sweeter.

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus when our worlds are spinning deliciously on their centers, when we’re steady and our sights are set on sugary delights we don’t need. It is sweet to trust in a God who desires to give His children abundantly good things. And ‘tis so sweet to trust in Jesus when everything has fallen apart and nothing resembles the life we’re used to, when we’re disoriented and unable to fix our attention on anything but present pain. It is sweet to trust in Jesus, who identifies with our sufferings and carried them for us in His body and to the cross.

While I would never wish Louisa’s loss on anyone, her story lends credibility to those of us (all of us, really) who have felt similar pain, giving us the confidence to proclaim the kindness of our God, even when our circumstances feel anything but kind. When she wrote this hymn, I don’t think Louisa was claiming that her grief had suddenly disappeared by trusting Jesus. Instead, what I hear in her words is the surprise, the sweet relief, that she could still trust Him, come what may. We can, too. O for grace to trust Him more!

‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Text: Louisa M. R. Stead, 1882

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take Him at His word;
just to rest upon His promise,
and to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me
neath the healing, cleansing flood!    Refrain

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace.    Refrain

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
and I know that Thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end.    Refrain