Love Lifted Me -James Rowe

This gospel song was written by James Rowe in 1912 and has been popular for over a century. It’s based on the biblical account of when Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus and walked on the water until he took his eyes off the Lord. When he did, he became afraid and began to sink.  He cried to the Lord to save him, and Jesus lifted him out of the water. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Matthew 14:30-31)

Rowe was born in England in 1865, and he immigrated to the United States from Ireland when he was twenty-four. He settled in Albany, New York, where he was married. He worked as a teacher, government worker, and railroad worker and was also an inspector at the Hudson River Humane Society, but his real interest was writing. In 1896, he began writing songs and hymns for two major music publishers. He was a prolific writer; two of his other well-known gospel songs include “I Would Be Like Jesus” and “I Walk with the King.”

Rowe and Howard E. Smith, an organist in Connecticut, had worked together to produce the music for “Love Lifted Me.” Rowe’s daughter described how the song was put together:

“Howard E. Smith was a little man whose hands were so knotted with arthritis that you would wonder how he could use them at all, much less play the piano…I can see them now, my father striding up and down humming a bar or two and Howard E. playing it and jotting it down.”

The first stanza of the song reminds believers what their spiritual condition was before accepting Christ. Jesus is called the “Master of the sea,” referring to the account in Matthew 8:23-27. Jesus was asleep in the boat, and the fearful disciples woke him in the midst of a great storm. The Master rebuked the wind and the sea, and immediately the storm stopped.

The second stanza expresses the “reasonable service” the Christian offers to God as a “living sacrifice:” his heart, songs of praise, and faithful service. (Romans 12:1) The last stanza gives a warning and an invitation to the lost to “be saved today.” The refrain repeats the song title, “Love Lifted Me,” in praise of the love that made salvation possible.  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).

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