There’s a Southern Gospel song that the chorus goes like this,
For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.
When things go wrong, He’ll make it right.
And the God of the good times
is still God in the bad times.
The God of the day is still God in the night.
Part of learning to completely TRUST God is learning that NO MATTER what happens, HE is STILL IN CONTROL!
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;” (Psalm 23:4)
We are too programmed in this world to make our own way, do things for ourselves, force stuff to happen, and look out for number one! Yet the Bible tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7)
Anthony Showalter, a gospel music composer, teacher and publisher founded the Showalter Music Company in Dalton, Georgia in 1884.
He took a very personal interest in his music students and would keep in contact with them for years. One evening he received a couple of letters from some former students who had both just lost their wives. He was reading the Bible trying to think of a verse he could use to help comfort them, and he found Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms…”
As he pondered the words of that verse from the Bible, more words came to his mind: “Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.”
After sending a letter to his former students, he also took those two lines that had just come to him, and wrote them in a letter to another well known hymn writer, Elisha Hoffman. He wrote, “Here is the chorus for a good hymn from Deut. 33:27, but I can’t come up with any verses.”
Hoffman wrote 3 stanzas and sent them back, and Showalter set them to music, which today is the hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” He had learned the important lesson of COMPLETELY trusting in God no matter what.