Bible Reading:
Psalm 23
Key Verse: Verse 2 –“He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters."
Key Words: he leadeth me beside the
still waters
Through
the years, Philadelphia
has been the birthplace of many church hymns and Gospel songs. But perhaps the one for which it is best
known, is the great assurance hymn, “He Leadeth
Me.”
Joseph
Henry Gilmore was born in Boston
in 1834. In 1861 he was supply pastor at
First Baptist
Church in Philadelphia.
After a mid-week praise and prayer service in which he had been speaking
on the 23rd Psalm, he visited the home of Deacon Watson, where there
was further discussion on this beautiful portion of Scripture. It was during the discussion that he jotted
down this hymn, as he said, and handed it to his wife. She in turn, without his knowledge, sent it
off to a Baptist publication. Some years
after its publication in that paper, and when visiting a church in Rochester, New
York, he happened to pick up a new little hymnal they
were using. As he turned its pages, his
eyes fell upon his hymn. You see,
William Bradbury, often called the “Father of the Gospel Song,” had found the
words in the Baptist magazine and had composed a tune which exactly caught the
tone and spirit of the text. Such is the
story of Joseph H. Gilmore’s great hymn.
On
a bronze tablet, on the side of the UGI Building in Philadelphia are found
these words: “He Leadeth Me”, sung
throughout the world, was written by Reverend Doctor Joseph H. Gilmore, a son
of a governor of New Hampshire, in the home of Deacon Watson, immediately after
preaching in the First Baptist Church, northwest corner Broad and Arch Streets,
on the 26th day of March 1862.
The church and Deacon Watson’s home stood on the ground upon which this
building was erected.”
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.
What to do:
✞
Being
successful requires being a good follower – follow
Him.
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