Hymn of the Week: August 23, 2024
Lead, Kindly Light
Text: Cardinal John Henry Newman 1801-1890
Lead, kindly light amid the encircling gloom,
And lead 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!
So long Thy power hath blessed me, surely still
’Twill lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent’
Til the night is gone’
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
First posted September 4, 2023.
We love this hymn for its strong, dark colors. If a hymn writer knows how to use his colors, can draw his picture well, and is true to the heart of life, there will certainly be a hearing of such a hymn.
How many hymns beguile us in one way or another with such dark colors? We all have at one time, or another known what deep darkness feels like. The darkness here is the darkness of a late October night deep in the woods. We acknowledge that hiking through such darkness is fraught with peril. Taking a walk in such darkness could lead our imaginations to run wild with thoughts that every rabbit hole leads to streams and torrents of dangerous water and sinister swamps. This kind of darkness can lead anyone to be willing to figuratively sell their soul to anyone who might be able to offer a light. Coming upon that first lighted window of an old farmhouse can make you feel as if that light is the sun rising in the east.
Of course, this is not the way we live our lives day to day. We work, we come home, we use electrical lights, and our cars are well-lit. Losing one’s way home is not a common experience for most of us. We have GPS that leads us out of every scary patch. 99.9% of the time losing our way isn’t a problem which of course can lead us to know how much worse it is when we do lose our way.
The Author
Enter a young man of 32, our author, Cardinal John Henry Newman, the author of this hymn. He was on a Mediterranean cruise in the 1830s with his friends, Hurrell Froude and his father. He fell sick of an illness which was probably less than half physical in its origin, and more likely half occasioned by the great mental tension through which he was passing. Some believe he was on the sea when he wrote this text, but the imagery leads one to believe he was on land. When a person is in such dire straits, one can be led to sing or compose a hymn such as the one we are talking about today.
It’s the kind of hymn you may not need all the time, but when you need it, you REALLY need this text. “The night is dark, and I am far from home.” We all know as we live our lives how the bottom can quickly drop out from under us at any time, setting our lives adrift. Some stroke of fortune good or bad can cut clean through the plans we’ve made so confidently.
‘Keep Thou my feet: I do not ask to see, the distant scene; one step enough for me”. This is one secret in finding our path once more. When the world dissolves into such confusion, consider that there might be something close at hand that can be done to relieve the burden of the feelings of being lost. Maybe the darkness is only five yards and not complete. If God’s guidance on the problem is not forthcoming, God might be waiting to reveal or say something on a matter that might seem trivial at first, but God renders it important. He may be preparing you for that farmhouse window just beyond that 5 yards of darkness you are caught up in. It is also possible that keeping our eye on that window can lead us to misstep and twist our ankle in a hole we didn’t expect. But as for me, said the psalmist, my feet were almost gone; my treading had well-nigh slipped, BUT THEN “nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me with thy right hand.” (Psalm 73).
The hymn talks of the same thing. I thought I had a firm hold on my life. I can’t remember ever feeling this low or lost. I thought I knew the terrain. If there was a problem, I thought I could handle it - but now, Lord, lead thou me on. I thought the light I was using was helping me, but it became as useless as the flashlight on our phone as we lost power, this light is adequate, but can it take us through to the end of our journey? If it’s possible, we should make a new beginning, ask for real light, and wash out the memory of those past years in which we took pride in our abilities to manage through life’s hardships. I’m in an emergency, Lord! Lead me through this!
The Answer
Our faith is the answer to this feeling of being lost. For God, to whom I pray for light, has been very forbearing so far. I have invited his impatience, and he has never let me down or left me completely alone. So long thy power has blessed me. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
Til the night is gone’
And with the morn those angel faces smile
This line can seem perplexing to us when taken out of context but not so to the singer singing the verse. It is only by taking thought that we succumb to perplexity, and having succumbed we must work through our truth. The truth may well be this, that the traveler, looking for a light is promised daylight. By the light he prayed for he might see what he had expected to see. By the light God gives, the lost person might find a light that takes him by surprise. He may see something that he thought was lost that he loved long ago.
The traveler had lost his capacity through all the travails of this life to see things as they really are.
Seeing things with the insight of heaven is one of the gifts of the Spirit that are given to people of faith; it is one of those things that go along with childlike innocence and are distorted by the corruptions of life. When the morning breaks the traveler will see straight and clear. He will see not only the path but the scenery. He will see God’s plan as God devised it. He will see the past and present in true proportion. He will then understand how long it has been since he last felt sure of himself and of God.
Much of today’s devotion is paraphrased from Eric Routley’s wonderful book. Hymns of the Faith 1952.
