Trusting Jesus

This article is from Issue 4, Called to Trust

The Story Behind Edgar Stite’s Hymn

Edgar Page Stites was a direct descendant of John Howland, one of the Mayflower passengers. Stites served in the Civil War before becoming a riverboat pilot and later a missionary to churches in South Dakota.

The poem first appeared in the newspaper and later came into the possession of Evangelist Dwight L. Moody, who gave the poem to his song leader, Ira D. Sankey, and asked him to set it to music. The song was first published in Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos in 1878. In his 1906 autobiography, Ira Sankey recalled the following about the comfort of the song:

“About two years ago, I visited a woman who was suffering from an incurable disease; but great as was her agony of body, her distress of mind was greater still. One day she said: ‘The future is so dark, I dare not look forward at all.’

To my question, ‘Can’t you trust yourself in God’s hands?’ She replied: ‘No, I can’t leave myself there.’ I repeated the hymn, Simply trusting every day, and especially dwelt on the refrain, Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by. ‘Ah, she said, I can trust him this moment; is it like that?’ I then sang the hymn to her, and the change that came over her was wonderful.

She never lost this trust, and she had the page in her hymn-book turned down, that she might have the hymn read to her. After many months of intense suffering she passed away, simply trusting, to the land where there shall be no more pain.”

Trusting Jesus

Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Refrain:
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine;
While He leads I cannot fall;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Singing if my way is clear,
Praying if the path be drear;
If in danger for Him call;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting Him while life shall last,
Trusting Him till earth be past;
Till within the jasper wall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he wrote to a dear friend: “I am so weak I cannot write; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God’s arms like a child and trust.”

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow with fear. The same Everlasting Father Who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow. He has kept you so far; hold fast to His dear hand and He will lead you through all things, and when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms.

Frances De Sales

Taken from Life On The Altar Publications
Issue 4 Spring 2022