"O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take
words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity; Receive us
graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.'" (Hosea 14:1-2)
Robert Robinson had been converted out of a tempestuous life of sin, and at the age of
twenty-three, wrote the hymn, "O Thou Fount Of Every Blessing." Sadly, Robinson wandered far
from the faith and, like the Prodigal Son, journeyed into the distant country of carnality. Until one
day - when he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman engrossed in her
book. She ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it.
Bursting into tears, Robinson said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn
many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had
then." (Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories, p. 52 )
Let the backslider return to the Lord our God, and He will graciously forgive.