This hymn began its life as a poem written by a 22-year-old Canadian girl called Margaret Clarkson (1915-2008). Margaret graduated as a teacher in 1935, and because teaching jobs were hard to find she moved many miles away from her home in Toronto, to the far North West of Ontario, Canada. She taught in a lumber camp and then in a gold-mining camp, so life was hard for the seven years she spent away from home.
She was starved of Christian fellowship and felt deep loneliness of every kind. Margaret was reading her Bible one night when she came to the verse: “Then said Jesus to them again, ‘Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you’” (John 20:21 KJV). As a child she had dreamt of going abroad to work for the Lord, but this was not possible due to health issues. Despite having lived in isolation for three years and feeling very low in spirit, that night it dawned on Margaret that she was exactly where God had sent her. Hard as it was, she was in her mission field. So she sat down and put her thoughts into verse.
So send I you to labour unrewarded,
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing –
So send I you to toil for Me alone.
So send I you to bind the bruised and broken,
O’er wand’ring souls to work, to weep, to wake,
To bear the burdens of a world aweary –
So send I you to suffer for My sake.
So send I you to loneliness and longing,
With heart ahung’ring for the loved and known,
Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one –
So send I you to know My love alone.
So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labour long, and love where men revile you –
So send I you to lose your life in Mine.
So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, tho’ it be blood, to spend and spare not –
So send I you to taste of Calvary.
Margaret sent her poem to a friend who passed it on to a printer. Someone then set it to music and it became known as the greatest missionary hymn of the twentieth century! Over time and with more life experience, however, Margaret came to realise that her poem was very one-sided speaking only of the trials and not of the joys of Christian service. In 1963, she wrote another poem with the same rhythm, so the verses could be used interchangeably. Margaret noted, “This set forth the true teaching of the Word of God on our Lord’s missionary call, showing its sorrows but also showing its triumph and joy.”[1]
So send I you – by grace made strong to triumph,
O’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death, and sin,
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer –
So send I you, My victory to win.
So send I you – to take to souls in bondage,
The word of truth that sets the captive free,
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death’s fetters –
So send I you, to bring the lost to Me.
So send I you – My strength to know in weakness,
My joy in grief, My perfect peace in pain,
To prove My pow’r, My grace, My promised presence –
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.
So send I you – to bear My cross with patience,
And then one day with joy to lay it down,
To hear My voice, ‘Well done, My faithful servant –
Come, share My throne, My kingdom, and My crown!’
I am sure we can all relate to Margaret and the reason why she wrote both hymns. Our service for God is carried out in all “seasons” of life and in some of these seasons we may struggle. The loneliness of singleness or the responsibilities of marriage; the heartache of childlessness or the tedium of childcare; employment or home management; a small church or a church that feels too large; lack of fellowship or being overwhelmed with too much going on, can feel very much like version one of “So Send I You.” Faithfulness in service is not easy, especially when we feel a bit weary or despondent, but, if that is where you are just now, be encouraged – there is joy in obedience and reward for perseverance.
Margaret was teaching in the wilds of Northern Ontario and, like her, some of us may feel that our mission field is very insignificant compared to that of others. We should encourage ourselves that God has put us exactly where He wants us to be. The important thing is for us to focus on serving Him wholeheartedly where we are – in the home among our family, at work, where we study, in our local church or far from home in a foreign country.
The verse of Scripture which initially inspired Margaret was “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). How we serve should be how He served – it will involve sacrifice, self-denial and suffering loss (Luke 9:23-26). We may well feel like we “serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown.” We may have to “leave your life’s ambition, to die to dear desire, self-will resign”.
None of that should be a surprise to us as we reflect on how the One we follow lived and died for us. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). But following His steps also brings glory (Hebrews 2:9), victory (Hebrews 2:14,15) and joy, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Wherever and whatever work the Lord has for us, with His help and with pure motives we can lift our perspective, seeing it as He sees it. As a result:
· We will bring glory to the Father (John 15:8)
· We will have joy (John 15:11)
· We will have treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20,21)
· We will know the Lord Jesus more fully (Philippians 3:8)
· We will know God is working for our good (Romans 8:28)
· We will look forward with confidence to Him coming back (1 John 2:28)
· We will have reward at the Judgement Seat (2 Corinthians 5:9,10)
In Margaret’s own words, “It is true that the badge of Christian discipleship is a cross; it is equally true that the cross is crowned with eternal glory.” [2]
So send I you – My strength to know in weakness,
My joy in grief, My perfect peace in pain,
To prove My pow’r, My grace, My promised presence –
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.
Be faithful. Struggles in service are real but temporary and purposeful, “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).
