Christians find much comfort in reading and meditating on the Psalms. “He Hideth My Soul” is testimony to the fact that blind Fanny Crosby turned there to find comfort and strength in the Lord. Many of her more than 8,000 songs express the security and safety the believer can have in Christ.
William J. Kirkpatrick visited Fanny with a new tune he’d just written that needed suitable words. He had previously composed a tune for one of her poems, "Redeemed." When he played the new melody for her, she knelt in prayer, and that day, she gave Kirkpatrick the lines of "He Hideth My Soul."
That was in 1890. Fanny was living in a run-down tenement building near the Bowery Mission in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, New York City. There, she ministered among the poor and spoke publicly to people who needed to hear her testimony of God’s saving grace. The environment where she lived must have influenced this gospel song that expresses the believer’s confidence in God’s care. Like many of those around her, she sometimes felt that she was in the wilderness, alone and vulnerable, but she found safety and joy in the scripture: For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock (Psalm 27:5).
Each stanza of “He Hideth My Soul” tells of the “numberless blessings” given by the Saviour: rivers of pleasure, burdens taken away, being filled with Christ’s fullness, and the anticipation of His glorious return. The joy that the believer has is then expressed in the chorus. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, Moses asked God to show him His presence. God responded, I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by (Exodus 33:22).
This was Fanny Crosby’s favorite gospel hymn. Like her, the believer should be filled with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that whatever happens in this life, “He Hideth My Soul.” This is certainly cause to sing: “Oh, glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine!”
A wonderful Saviour to me,
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of his love,
And covers me there with his hand,
And covers me there with his hand.
He taketh my burden away,
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved,
He giveth me strength as my day.
And filled with his fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God
For such a Redeemer as mine.
To meet him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation, his wonderful love,
I’ll shout with the millions on high.
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