“And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing with
everlasting joy on their heads . . .” Isaiah 35:10.
Though
battered by life, the patriarch Job declared that God is able to give us “songs
in the night” (Job 35:10). When the Psalmist, Asaph, felt overwhelmed, he
consoled himself with God’s “song in the night” (Psalm 77:6). God is strong
enough to keep us singing, even in the night seasons.
North
Carolina native Luther Bridgers began preaching at age seventeen while
attending Asbury College in Kentucky. Afterward, he developed a reputation as
an effective pastor/evangelist/church planter. The Lord gave him a wonderful
wife and three precious boys.
In
1910, when Luther was twenty-six and the future seemed bright, he took his family
to his wife’s home in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, southwest of Lexington. They were
going to stay with her parents while Luther was on a preaching trip.
One
evening a nearby neighbor, unable to sleep, rose in the night and glanced out
his window. He was horrified to see flames. Racing across the field, he gave
the alarm, but by that time the house was fully engulfed. Luther’s in-laws
evidently escaped, but his wife and sons perished.*
During
the long, slow recovery from overwhelming grief, Luther suffered deep and
almost suicidal depression, according to some sources. But he recalled the
Bible’s promise of “songs in the night,” and several months later he wrote both
the words and the music for this gospel song about God’s ability to keep him
singing. Notice how he alludes to his tragedy in verse 4:
Though sometimes He leads through waters deep, / Trials fall
across the way,
Tho' sometimes the path seems rough and steep, / See His
footprints all the way.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
In
1914, Luther married again and became a general evangelist for the Methodist
Episcopal Church South, a ministry that kept him occupied for the next eighteen
years (with a brief interruption after the World War I when he traveled to
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Russia, doing Evangelist work).
After
1932, he served as pastor in churches in Georgia and North Carolina, and
retired in Gainesville, Georgia, in 1945. He passed away in Atlanta in 1948.
[*Dr.
Alfred B. Smith, the “Dean of Gospel Music,” says that Luther himself was at
his in-laws that night and had to be restrained by neighbors from re-entering
the collapsing inferno.]
Song:
He Keeps Me Singing
(Music and Words from Luther B. Bridgers)
1.
There’s within my heart a melody, Jesus whispers sweet and low;
“Fear
not, I am with thee; peace be still,” In all of life’s ebb and flow.
Chorus:
Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills
my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
2.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife, Discord filled my life with pain,
Jesus
swept across the broken strings, Stirred the slumbering chords again.
Chorus:
Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills
my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
3.
Feasting on the riches of His grace, Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing.
Always
looking on His smiling face, That is why I shout and sing.
Chorus:
Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills
my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
4.
Tho’ sometimes He leads through waters deep, Trials fall across my way,
Tho’
sometimes the path seems rough and steep, See His footprints all the way.
Chorus:
Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills
my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
5.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me, Far beyond the starry sky,
I
shall wing my flight to worlds unknown, I shall reign with Him on high.
Chorus:
Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills
my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
No comments:
Post a Comment