“God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.” So reads the answer to question number 11 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. What a wonderful truth this is! It is what we find throughout Scripture and throughout history, and even our own lives. How many examples can we recall where we may not have seen it at the time, but now that we are looking back on events we can recognize that God was at work, controlling what was happening and all according to His perfect and complete plan? In retrospect, we can see His fingerprints in what has occurred. That reassures us that whatever may be happing in our lives and in our world at any moment, it is all working out exactly according to plan … according to His plan, Him who “works all things according to the design of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).
This is the doctrine of providence, one of the major themes in biblical theology. The English word “providence” very appropriately defines this dimension of God’s character as He “provides” everything He deems necessary for His glory and our good. We find it assured to us in 2 Peter 1:3, where the apostle writes that God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. Based on that, we can be confident that He will continue to do so. We see evidence of it spectacularly in the case of Joseph. The story of that patriarch is extremely important for many reasons, and is clear from the fact that more chapters of Genesis are devoted to his story than to any other, even Abraham. As puzzling as it must have been to him, Joseph would later discover that God had been at work at every step of his journey, from the pit into which his brothers had thrown him and the prison in which he languished because of that false accusation, to the position of honor and power in Pharaoh’s court as Prime Minister of all the kingdom of Egypt. Through it all, God had provided for him what was necessary to achieve the divine purpose for his life, a life that would be a magnificent “type” of Christ.
In the history of hymnody, we find many hymns celebrating God’s gracious providence, especially in the period of the catastrophic Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in Germany. It was during that period and the following decades that Martin Rinkart wrote “Now Thank We All Our God” and that Samuel Rodigast wrote “Whate’er My God Ordains is Right.” Providence has continued to be a major theme in the centuries following, with such works as William Cowper’s “God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform,” Katharina von Schlegel’s “Be Still, My Soul,” and Caroline Sandell Berg’s “Children of the Heavenly Father.” That continues to be a wonderful theme in more recent compositions like Margaret Clarkson’s “O Father, You Are Sovereign” and Matt Merker’s “When I Fear My Faith Will Fail.”
Among the now-classic hymns about this doctrine from the powerful eighteenth century Great Awakening, we have John Newton’s “Though Troubles Assail Us,” with its repeated assurance at the end of each stanza, “The Lord will provide.” Newton’s name is well known as the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” And though the basics of his story are well known to many, most do not know the details of the years in which he lived far from the gospel, suffered under many afflictions brought on by his own rebellious nature, and finding himself amazingly delivered from what seemed like certain death, all under the sovereign care of divine providence.
Newton was born in London on July 24, 1725 to a father who was a sea-faring man. His mother, a godly woman, died while he was yet very young. His father married again within a year, but his second wife was very unlike the first. She did not wish to have the care of young Newton, so he was sent away to school. He did not learn much there, however, and associated with bad company. At the age of only eleven, he left school for good, and accompanied his father on his voyages at sea for the four succeeding years.
But, bad though this young English lad, was, he could not entirely forget God, or his departed mother’s prayers, and he made a profession of faith three or four times before he was sixteen. He fasted and prayed, and read the Word of God, but did not really repent and turn to Christ for salvation, so all his efforts to be good ended in dismal failure. Such is the plight of those who have not been converted but simply try in their own strength to improve their lives. But God had His eye upon him. He allowed him to pass through many painful and humiliating experiences in order that he might see how bad he really was, and how much he had need of a Savior such as Jesus is to all who call upon Him in truth.
He was carried off by a military press-gang and put on board an English warship where the severe discipline might have done him good, but he profited little by this because of his inherently defiant nature. When his father secured his release at the close of the war, the ship on which he was returning home encountered a terrible storm, and young Newton was greatly alarmed. He resolved that, if he ever reached shore again, he would lead a different life; but though the vessel arrived in port safely, Newton soon forgot his promises and good resolutions. Like the dog of the Scripture’s parable in 2 Peter 2:21, he “turned to his own vomit again.” Had he had a heart to put his trust entirely in the Lord, He would have experienced the joy and peace of being one of His sheep. When souls are really saved, they are taught of God to abhor sin, and by His grace are enabled to resist its temptations. But God often allows those whom He is about to save to plunge into the deepest depths of sin, that they might fully know what is in their hearts, and ever after abhor themselves, and never more have confidence in the flesh. This will tend to keep them humble, and to cleave closely to the Lord for His keeping power and grace.
After this last failure to make himself better, the young man went from bad to worse, and ended up as a slave himself to a brutal captain and his mean-spirited black wife in Africa! He later wrote to a friend, “Had you seen me, sir, go pensive and solitary, in the dead of night, to wash my one shirt upon the rocks, and afterward put it on wet that it might dry upon my back while I slept; and had you seen me so poor a figure that, when a ship’s boat came to the island, shame often constrained me to hide myself in the woods from the sight of strangers (and my conduct, principles, and heart were still darker than my outward condition)—how little you would have imagined that such an one was reserved to be so peculiar an instance of the providential care and exuberant goodness of God!”
John Newton was indeed a marked example of the transforming power of the grace of God, just as in a still greater measure with Saul of Tarsus, who afterwards called himself, “the chief of sinners,” and who wrote, “For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:16). The more believers become aware of the sin around them as well as within them, the more they will cast all their cares upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7), and be grateful that “the Lord will provide.”
And what does He provide? Psalm 103 instructs us not to forget all his benefits. He forgives all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, crowns our life with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles. Newton’s hymn applies this promise of divine provision to every dimension of our lives. We can sing this hymn, confident that the Lord will provide comfort in our sorrows, strength in our weaknesses, perseverance in our declensions, and will be with us whatever loss we may have suffered, whether of a loved one or of our job or of our health, when attacked from without or within. Newton experienced that, preached it, and wrote this hymn about it.
Newton’s ministry flourished after his appointment in 1764 to pastoral ministry at the Anglican Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Olney, which soon had to build side and rear galleries to accommodate such large numbers who came to hear him preach about a Savior who frees us from slavery to sin. In 1779 he was transferred to the prominent St. Mary Woolnoth Church in London to serve as Rector, where one parishioner was William Wilberforce, the famous member of Parliament who led the fight against the slave trade until it was abolished in England in 1807. Late in life, when Newton’s memory began to fail, he told a friend, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”
He wrote this hymn in 1779, the same year that he left Olney to begin anew at the London church. Was it perhaps the loss of friendships back there in Olney that led him to reflect on the fact that the Lord who had provided for him through all those previous years would continue to do so? Was it the challenges of a larger congregation and the dangers of fame that he faced that made him more aware of his need for the Lord to provide? In the years ahead, the hymn would be even more fitting for his circumstances, as he increasingly suffered from ill health, failing memory, the loss of much of his eyesight, and even the death of his beloved wife, Polly, in 1790. Through all of this, he maintained his confidence in the one who revealed Himself to Abraham, just before that patriarch was to offer his son as a sacrifice, that one who included among His names that of Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides.
Yes, this is the Lord who will provide. Not only does He provide every day for His creatures in the wild (Psalm 104:10-11 and Matthew 6:26). Not only did He provide an abundance of food in Eden for our first parents (Genesis 2:16). Not only did He provide manna in the wilderness to feed two and a half million people for 40 years. Not only did He provide food for the thousands who ate from the loaves and fishes in Galilee. We sing Newton’s hymn, rejoicing that God has provided what we need most, the saving power of the blood of the Lord’s own Son who was offered as substitutionary sacrifice for us.
He knows our every need even before we ask, as we read in Matthew 6:8. And “He is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Notice that part of Satan’s strategy will be to try to get us to focus on our strength rather than the Lord. But we need not give in to that temptation.
While this hymn is often included in hymnals, sadly, few have included all the stanzas. In every imaginable situation, however dangerous, “the Lord will provide.”
Stanza 1 describes us at our most helpless, and yet we are secure. This looks back at the troubles Newton had experienced. He had dealt with the loss of his mother at a very young age, storms at sea, disease and starvation, the attacks of others against his character as well as his body. But through it all, the Lord was faithful to provide.
Though troubles assail us and dangers affright,
though friends should all fail us and foes all unite,
yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
the promise assures us, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 2 describes how He cares for sparrows, though they do nothing, and so will care for us. This looks to the birds around us which are fed by the Lord, though they do not do anything except trust Him for their daily provisions. Shouldn’t we who know Him with rational minds be even more secure in His care? Through it all, the Lord will be faithful to provide.
The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed;
from them let us learn to trust God for our bread.
His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied
so long as ‘tis written, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 3 describes Satan raging against us like a storm at sea, but our soul can’t be lost. This remembers Newton’s experiences at sea in the midst of severe storms in the middle of the ocean and faced with the ever-present possibility of mutiny by the crew on deck or rebellion by the slaves in the hold below. Sensing Satan behind it all, he was confident the Lord was faithful to provide.
We may, like the ships, By tempest be tossed
On perilous deeps, But cannot be lost.
Though Satan enrages The wind and the tide,
The promise engages, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 4 describes us on a desert journey like Abraham, but like him, God will guide us home. This looks at the course of Newton’s life and sees similarity with Abraham called by God to leave home for a foreign land. Simply depending on God’s character and promise, Newton had also followed the Lord to distant lands, and even there had found Him to be faithful to provide.
His call we obey Like Abram of old,
Not knowing our way, But faith makes us bold;
For though we are strangers we have a good Guide,
And trust in all dangers, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 5 describes us against our worst enemy, Satan, and yet we will surely triumph by faith. This once again recognizes Satan’s fingerprints in our hardships. Our courage will often fail when facing such opposition from without and weakness within. But those who know God’s promises will triumph, believing that the Lord will provide.
When Satan assails us to stop up our path,
and courage all fails us, we triumph by faith.
He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried,
this heart-cheering promise, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 6 describes Satan’s strategy to cause us to give up hope, but the Lord will preserve us. This teaches us that Satan’s attacks are most devious and destructive when he works on our minds to try to convince us that we are weak and that our hope is in vain, that what we expect from the Lord will never materialize. But we refuse to listen to him, knowing the Lord will provide.
He tells us we’re weak, Our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek We ne’er shall obtain,
But when such suggestions Our spirits have plied,
This answers all questions, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 7 describes our inherent lack of strength, but the Lord will be our strong tower. This reminds us that we cannot trust in our own strength or goodness. We have abandoned them to trust, instead, solely in the name of Jesus. He is our fortress, our strong tower. He has defeated Satan at the cross and the empty grave. He is our power, and is able to provide.
No strength of our own and no goodness we claim;
yet, since we have known of the Savior’s great name,
in this our strong tower for safety we hide:
the Lord is our power, “The Lord will provide.”
Stanza 8 describes our last moments, when with Christ on our side. This looks ahead to the time when this life nears an end and death is near. Will we then sink in despair? No! His grace that has saved us, cared for us, and guided us, will still be there, preparing for the final great demonstration of grace that will carry us home to his presence. And so with neither fear nor doubt, “we hope to die shouting, the Lord will provide!” What a line!” What a powerful climax to this great text! May it prove to be true for all of us.
When life sinks apace And death is in view,
This word of His grace Shall comfort us through:
No fearing or doubting With Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting, “The Lord will provide.”
The tune JOANNA (sometimes called ST DENIO) is best known by its association with “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.” The music is based on “Can mlynedd i nawr” (“A Hundred Years from Now”), a traditional Welsh ballad from the early 19the century. First published in 1839, St. Denis came to be revered as the patron saint of the French people. It follows a common musical pattern in rounded bar form (AABA). Its bright character in a major key defies the mistaken notion that all Welsh tunes are sad and in a minor key!
The modern arrangement of the melody comes from John Roberts (1822-1877), born in Tanrhiwfelen, Penllwyn, near Aberystwyth, Wales. He is also known by his Welsh name, Ieuan Gwyllt (Wild John) to distinguish him from many other Welshmen by the same name. He began conducting choirs at the age of fourteen and was a schoolteacher at sixteen. Ordained in the (Calvinist) Methodist ministry in 1859, he served congregations in Aberdare and Llanberis. In 1859 he also founded the famous Welsh hymn-singing festival “Gymanfa ganu” and went on to compile the important Calvinist Methodist hymnal “Llyfr Tonau Cynulleidfaol.”
More recently, other tunes have been written, several in a more contemporary style.
Here are two links, the first to the singing of the hymn with JOANNA (ST DENIO).
And here is a link to a wonderful video telling the story of Newton’s life and ministry.