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God Leads His Dear Children Along

by Stephen Davey Scripture Reference: Psalms 66–68

Psalms 66–68 remind us that our life is a journey. It may not be an easy one; there may be great challenges along the way. But as we trust the Lord, we have the assurance of His presence and guidance and that our journey will have a glorious end.

Transcript

God Leads His Dear Children Along

Psalms 66–68

When my wife and I were dating in college, preparing for ministry, one of the hymns of the faith that came to mean a lot to us was entitled, “God Leads Us Along.” We met just a year after her brother had been killed in a car accident, and she understood much more than I did what it meant to sing this hymn. Some of the lyrics go like this:

Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along.
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.

Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood.
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song
In the night season and all the day long.[1]

Well, this next psalm was the inspiration for the hymn writer. Right in the middle of Psalm 66 the psalmist writes this in verse 12: “We went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”

The author of this particular psalm is anonymous. We do not know who penned these lyrics, but we do know as believers how true they are. When we have faced a crushing blow, some great sorrow or setback, we can look back later and see that even then, God was leading His dear children along.

The psalmist writes here in verses 10-12:

For You, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out.

This text inspired an evangelist by the name of George Young to write his hymn of faith more than a hundred years ago. George and his wife and family spent their years serving small churches in poor areas of the Midwest. They lived in borrowed places over the years and lived hand to mouth, although George would remind his family that the hand to their mouth was God’s hand.

When they finally had enough money to buy the lumber, George built a house with his own hands. At last, the day came, and they moved into their own family home. They stood on the porch and sang the Doxology to their faithful Lord, who had provided for them.

Sometime later, when they were away holding evangelistic meetings, someone who had been upset by George’s preaching slipped over in the night and set their home on fire. When the family returned, they found that everything they owned had been destroyed. 

What a loss! What a crushing blow! But within a few days, George sat down and wrote this hymn, and it was published later in 1903:[2]

Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood.
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song
In the night season and all the day long.

Now the psalmist was not thinking just about being led through life but about being led all the way to the glory of God’s presence in the coming kingdom.

The next psalm, Psalm 67, is also anonymous. It picks up the theme of Psalm 66 and leads us to that moment when the glory of God will be known all around the world. The author writes in verse 4, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.”

The Bible tells us that after the church is raptured—that is, taken away by God the Son to His Father’s house—the Antichrist will be revealed on the earth. Seven years of tribulation then will transpire, during which God’s primary focus on earth is not the church but Israel.

Revelation 7 tells us that God will redeem and commission 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will circle the globe, delivering the gospel. The spiritual awakening that takes place on earth will be absolutely amazing. While the Antichrist is doing his worst, people representing every language and nation on earth will place their faith in Jesus Christ. Israel—the Jewish people, the descendants of Jacob—will repent and return to the land of Israel to await the Lord’s return to earth.

With that, we will return with the Lord, and following the defeat of the Antichrist and the judgment of the nations described in Matthew 25, the Lord will set up His thousand-year, or millennial, kingdom on earth. We will reign with Christ over all these people who have accepted Christ as their Messiah, and they will be ushered into the kingdom age of Christ on earth.

All the Old Testament and New Testament promises to Israel will be fulfilled literally. The nation literally will be established in their land; there will be a literal throne in Jerusalem and a literal kingdom on earth with Christ reigning supreme.

That is the prophetic promise here in Psalm 67:4. Read it again:

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

Psalm 68 follows, and it is perfectly placed to illustrate the power of God, who guides us as we listen to Him. We can think of Psalm 68 as overwhelming evidence that God can be trusted to deliver every promise He has ever made.

In verse 1, the Lord’s power is seen as “his enemies [are] scattered” and “those who hate him . . . flee before him.” And verse 2 says, “As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!”

At the same time, He is described in verse 5 as “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows.” And verse 6 declares, “God settles the solitary in a home.” In every way, verse 10 reminds us, He has “provided for the needy.” Yes, it might be hand to mouth at times, but the hand to your mouth is the hand of God.

Now in verse 16, the language turns toward the Lord settling Himself on the “mount that God desired for his abode.” That is Mount Zion, or Jerusalem. This is a prophetic statement that Jerusalem will be the capital city in the Lord’s millennial kingdom. (See Psalms 48-50)

What is going to happen as God ushers in this new kingdom age? We are told here in the prophetic poetry of Psalm 68:

O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, to him who rides in the heavens . . . Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!  (verses 32-35)

And in the meantime, we sing the lyrics in verse 19: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up.”

This sounds like the testimony of George Young and his family as they stood there and looked at a pile of ashes that was once their family home. It sounds like his personal statement of faith as he sat down to write these lyrics:

Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along.
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.

Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood.
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song
In the night season and all the day long.


[1] G. A. Young, “God Leads Us Along.”

[2] Al Smith, Treasury of Hymn Stories (Better Music Publications, 1981), 67.

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