It was 1862, and the country was very uncertain because of the Civil War. Preacher Joseph Gilmore wanted the people to focus on the Lord’s guidance and chose the 23rd Psalm for his sermon text. After the service, he was visiting a deacon’s home, and there was further discussion of the blessedness of God’s leading. The phrase “He leadeth me” made such an impression on Gilmore that during the conversation, he wrote the words of what is known today as the gospel hymn “He Leadeth Me.” He handed the words to his wife and promptly forgot about them.
Three years later, he was a pastoral candidate at the Second Baptist Church in Rochester, New York. As he looked through the church’s hymnal, he saw his poem set to music. Without him knowing, Mrs. Gilmore sent the words to a Christian magazine. They were eventually set to music and published by William Bradbury in 1864. Gilmore commented, “That was the first time I knew that my hymn had found a place among the songs of the church.”
“He Leadeth Me,” words taken from Psalm 23:2, assure the believer that one can experience peace in knowing that God leads through “deepest gloom” and also where “Eden’s bowers bloom,” a pleasant place in a flowery garden. He leads during times of sorrow and suffering and also in the most joyful times of life. Christians should be “faithful followers,” knowing that the Lord is unchanging and leads for His glory and for the good of His children. His leading will safely take the believer to their heavenly home. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever (Psalm 23:6).
O, words with heav’nly comfort fraught.
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me!
He leadeth me! He leadeth me!
By his own hand he leadeth me;
His faithful foll’wer I would be,
For by his hand he leadeth me.
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea-
Still ’tis his hand that leadeth me!
Nor ever murmur nor repine-
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
When, by thy grace, the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
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