Blessed assurance – Day 7

“Lead, Kindly Light” is a hymn with words written in 1833 by John Henry Newman as a poem titled, “The Pillar of Cloud”. Newman fell sick while in Italy and was unable to travel for almost three weeks. You can imagine his frustration! He had work to do in England and he was aching to get home, but things just kept going wrong. Finally, when he was well enough to travel, he boarded a ship that was subsequently becalmed for a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio. There, on the deck, Newman realised that God’s plan was not his plan. He put aside his pride, put his trust in God and wrote these words:

“Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!”

This hymn was written in a time of distress and is often sung at those times. During the Stanley Pit Mine Disaster of 1909, 34 miners sought refuge in a pocket of clean air. Huddled in the darkness and fearing the worst, they began to sing “Lead, kindly Light”. They remained calm and most of them were rescued. The hymn was also sung aboard one of the Titanic’s lifeboats when the rescue ship, Carpathia, was sighted the following morning and again by Betsie Ten Boom, sister of Corrie Ten Boom, and other women as they were led to the concentration camp, Ravensbruck, during the Holocaust.

While it’s important to call on God when things are difficult, we should remember to always follow Jesus, the light of the world.