Be With Me Lord

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2h64st

Church buildings can be really scary places. As a teenager I can remember my dad asking me to go across the street at night to his church office and retrieve some books for him. In the darkness of the night that building seemed to take on a life of its own. If you were to stand still inside that empty building you could and would hear noises. Believe me, I didn’t stay alone in that dark building for very long!

Preachers often work late hours. After visiting, counseling, paperwork and administrative duties are over, the evening hours look very inviting for reading and study. One preacher who burned the midnight oil in study was L. O. Sanderson. Sanderson was not only a preacher but also a composer of hymns and editor of songbooks.

One night in 1934 he was working in his office well past midnight. This night he was editing a hymnal that was soon to be published and was deep in thought. The local police saw his light still on and stopped by to make sure he was alright. After they left a melody started going through his mind. Within a short time he sat down and wrote the music for what would eventually be the song, “Be With Me Lord.”

Sanderson’s song is very popular today and is one of over 400 songs that he authored. He also edited 3 hymnals for the Gospel Advocate Company and wrote several music textbooks.

About a week after Sanderson composed the tune he received a letter from Thomas O. Chisholm. In that letter was a poem which became the words to the music that had been written.

As it turns out, on the same night that Sanderson was working on the melody of the song, Chisholm was unable to sleep and sat down and composed the words. One hundred miles separated the men that night but their hearts and minds were in concert together. Here is the first verse of that song.

Be with me Lord

I cannot live without Thee,

I dare not try

To take one step alone,

I cannot bear

The load of life unaided,

I need Thy strength,

To lean myself upon.

We all need God, but unfortunately we don’t always keep Him near. When David wrote about the valley of the shadow of death in the 23^rd Psalm, he wrote of walking through that dark valley. When most of us think of dark places, we are more likely to run through them than to walk. But David knew that God was with him. He kept close to God and that makes the difference.

We all will face struggles and difficulties in this life. Sanderson’s daughter died of cancer which was a huge loss to the family. But then two years after that while walking home from church Sanderson and his wife were struck by a teenage driver and his wife was killed. Sanderson was crippled but lived on eight more years before his death.

No doubt the words to his famous song provided comfort and assurance to Sanderson. We cannot live, take a step or bear life’s burdens without God’s help. Indeed we need His strength to lean upon.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we prepare ourselves for future struggles by keeping close to God each day. May we never fear what this world holds since we know that the Lord will be with us.

Our thought for the day: “If you take your problems to the Lord, that is natural. If you give your problems to the Lord, that is spiritual.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.