The Hymn Born from a Broken Engagement

George Matheson was a brilliant young Scottish theology student with a devastating secret — he was going blind. When his fiancee learned his condition would be permanent, she returned his engagement ring. He never married.

Matheson poured himself into ministry, becoming a beloved pastor. But on the evening of June 6, 1882, old wounds tore open. His younger sister was getting married, and while the household bustled with celebration, Matheson sat alone with what he later described only as "the most severe mental suffering." In five minutes, he wrote the hymn O Love That Will Not Let Me Go.

"O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be."

A woman's love had let him go. But Matheson discovered a Love that refused to release its grip — the relentless, pursuing love of God. The Almighty does not return our ring when life gets hard. He does not walk away when we become inconvenient or costly to love.

First John 4:16 tells us "God is love." Not that God merely feels love or occasionally shows love — He is love in His very nature.

Whatever rejection you carry this morning, hear this: the love of the Most High will not let you go. Not ever.