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Facts:
- Lyricist: Joseph H. Gilmore
Lyrics Date: 1862
Key: C
Theme: The Christian Life
Pilgrimage and Guidance
- Composer: William Bradbury
Music Date: 1864
Tune Title: HE LEADETH ME
Meter: L.M.D.
Scripture: Psalm 23:2,3
Devotional:
For Christians, leadership is crucial in their battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Often the odds seem overwhelming. Defeat seems inevitable. Perhaps the writer of our hymn was troubled by these thoughts as well. The opening lines of the hymn seem to bring instant relief to a difficult situation:
He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heav’nly comfort fraught. (fraught: loaded or filled) Whate’er I do, wher’er I be, Still ‘tis God&rs...
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For Christians, leadership is crucial in their battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Often the odds seem overwhelming. Defeat seems inevitable. Perhaps the writer of our hymn was troubled by these thoughts as well. The opening lines of the hymn seem to bring instant relief to a difficult situation:
He leadeth me, O blessed thought,
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught. (fraught: loaded or filled) Whate’er I do, wher’er I be,
Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
We know that Dr. Gilmore wrote this hymn after being struck with the consolation and comfort of the phrase "He leadeth me" which is found twice in the 23rd Psalm.
For this is what God’s leadership means in our lives. In the midst of trial, suffering, or the unfairness of life, we can trust Him to lead us to a place of comfort and rest.
At the beginning of World War II, England was struggling under the threat of Nazi Germany. It seemed only a matter of time until the English Channel would no longer protect their small country from the menacing German war machine. But, history tells us that the English people turned toWinston Churchill for help. Why? Because he offered hope—and a way out of their impossible situation. It was a decision that saved their country.
Today, perhaps you feel overwhelmed with life. I have good news for you. You can be safe. Whatever your situation, do two things:
Fix your eyes on Jesus (Hebrew 12:2)
Put your hand in His (Psalm 73:23)
Let go of your own will and let God lead you. Meditate on the 23rd Psalm and then sing the words of this hymn:
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.
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Hymn Story:
Joseph Gilmore tells this story:
As a young man who recently had been graduated from Brown University and Newton Theological Institution, I was supplying for a couple of Sundays the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. At the mid-week service, on the 26th of March 1862, I set out to give the people an exposition of the Twenty-third Psalm, which I had given before on three or four occasions, but this time I did not get further than the words "He leadeth me." Those ...
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Joseph Gilmore tells this story:
As a young man who recently had been graduated from Brown University and Newton Theological Institution, I was supplying for a couple of Sundays the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. At the mid-week service, on the 26th of March 1862, I set out to give the people an exposition of the Twenty-third Psalm, which I had given before on three or four occasions, but this time I did not get further than the words "He leadeth me." Those words took hold of me as they had never done before, and I saw them in a significance and wondrous beauty of which I had never dreamed.
It was the darkest hour of the Civil War, I did not refer to that fact – that is, I don’t think I did – but it may subconsciously have led me to realize that God’s leadership is the one significant fact in human experience, that it makes no difference how we are led, or whither we are lead, so long as we are sure God is leading us.
At the close of the meeting a few of us in the parlor of my host, good Deacon Wattson, kept on talking about the thought which I had emphasized; and then and there, on a blank page of the brief from which I had intended to speak, I penciled the hymn, talking and writing at the same time, then handed it to my wife and thought no more about it. She sent it to The Watchman and Reflector, a paper published in Boston, where it was first printed. I did not know until 1865 that my hymn had been set to music by William B. Bradbury. I went to Rochester to preach as a candidate before the Second Baptist Church. Going into their chapel on arrival in the city, I picked up a hymnal to see what they were singing, and opened it at my own hymn, "He Leadeth Me."
William Bradbury added the last two lines of the chorus, "His faithful foll’wer I would be, for by His hand he leadeth me" as he put it to music.
Watchman and Reflector printed the hymn in its December 4, 1862 edition.