The Slaver Who Wrote Our Hymn

In 1748, a violent storm nearly swallowed a slave ship in the North Atlantic. Belowdecks, a young sailor named John Newton — a man who had trafficked human beings, mocked the faith of others, and by his own admission lived as profanely as anyone on the seas — cried out to God for mercy. It was the first honest prayer he had spoken in years.

That prayer did not make Newton a saint overnight. He continued in the slave trade for several more years before the full weight of his sin broke through. But the seed of that storm-tossed cry grew slowly, relentlessly, until Newton became an Anglican clergyman and one of the most passionate abolitionists in England. And somewhere along the way, he sat down and wrote the words that millions have sung since: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

Newton never softened his past. Late in life, when his memory was failing and friends urged him to retire from preaching, he replied, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior."

That is what forgiveness does. It does not erase the history — it redeems it. The same hands that once chained others in darkness wrote a hymn that has unlocked hope for generations.

If the Almighty could reach a slave trader in a storm, He can reach you wherever you are this morning.