October 9, 2018 (Tuesday)
Some of our hymns seem to sound carefree, happy and intended to put us in a good mood, and put a smile on our faces. When we sing them, we may visualize the song writer as being in a very happy state of mind, able to repeat the poet’s line, “God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world!” “He Keeps Me Singing” has always been one of those songs for me. In recent years, however, I have researched the origin of this hymn, and I was surprised at what I found out about the writer, “Luther Bridgers.”
Luther Bridgers and his wife married very young and had three sons. While he was preaching in a revival meeting, she visited her parents. Before the week ended, he received the awful news that his wife and children had died in a fire at her parents’ home.
Although inactive for a while, he soon returned to the pulpit. We can only imagine his feelings as he sat down to write a song at that time. “He Keeps Me Singing” was the song. I’ll never hear the words now without thinking of how one man, with the help of the Lord, faced trouble and sorrow with great faith.