Abide With Me

Abide With Me

When you are young and smart the world lies ahead of you as an open road. Young Henry had his choice of professions. His intent was to go into the world of medicine but his ultimate decision was to become a minister.

Henry Francis Lyte had a fondness for poetry and became a well respected poet and hymn-writer. In 1820, Henry sat with an old friend as he was dying. His friend repeatedly spoke out loud to God, asking Him to “Abide with me.” When he died, Henry wrote a hymn for the family, based on those words, and left it with them.

It was 27 years later that Henry would recall those words. He was preparing for a trip to Italy, knowing that his own health was failing and that he had little time left. He had contracted tuberculosis and his mind lingered on his approaching death.

As he prepared for his journey, he entered his study and emerged with a new copy of the hymn he wrote for his old friend, decades earlier. The hymn described the helplessness of knowing that you are dying, the deepening darkness, the need for God’s presence in every passing hour and the triumph of knowing that God “abides with me.”

In 1847, Henry left on a voyage for Italy, to experience travel one last time. He never made it beyond France. He died there on November 20 at the age of 54. The beloved poet and pastor was honored by his home church in Brixham, England with a service where his hymn about death and dying was sung publicly for the first time.

Abide With Me would become one of the most popular hymns ever written, being included in virtually every hymnal in the English language.

Listen to “Abide With Me”:

https://youtu.be/84YASWe3_2Q?si=PD3mIFzfap13_kY_