January 9, 2018 Tuesday)
When we talk about following the leadership of the Lord, the hymn, “He Leadeth Me,” comes to mind. It is so comforting that the Lord leads us. Steve Miller, of Detroit, Michigan, tells us that the author of this hymn, J. H. Gilmore, was pastor of Philadelphia’s 1st Baptist Church during the Civil War. After one service, they were fellowshiping at deacon’s house about the blessedness of God’s leading. As others went on talking, Gilmore took out a pencil and wrote the words of this hymn, gave it to his wife, and forgot about it. Three years later he was a pastoral candidate for a church in Rochester, NY. Since he was unfamiliar with the church’s hymnal, he began leafing through it and spotted the hymn, “He Leadeth Me” – his own hymn! Without his knowledge, Mrs. Gilmore had sent the words to a Christian periodical, which had set them to music. – Great Songs of Faith by Brown and Norton.
In reading comments from readers concerning this hymn, I saw the following message from Daniel D Kim of Worthington, Ohio: “Verses 1 and 3 helped me this morning. Sometimes when I see a brother lose his job or when I see another failing in his health, I am quick to say that they should turn to the Lord. However, when I am experiencing spiritual disappointments, it is so easy for me to murmur and bemoan my state. But realizing that He leads us even to spiritual disappointments, job loss, health failures, etc., this makes me glad in Him and even to praise Him. “Lord, I would like to be ‘content, whatever lot I see’, ‘whatever I do, wherever I be’ because You lead us.”
HE LEADETH ME
J. H. Gilmore
1859
1 He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
2 Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden’s flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me. Refrain
3 Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ’tis my God that leadeth me. Refrain
4 And when my task on earth is done,
when, by thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me. Refrain
Dr. George W. Truett, great pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, for 50 years, preached a sermon entitled “The Conquest of Fear,” a great sermon that can be heard now (Click here). At the end of that message (25:22) he quoted the verses of this wonderful hymn, in his own inimitable way. I listened to it again today as I wrote this blog. What a blessing!