GUIDE ME!

Wales--the western side of Great Britain
and birthplace of this great hymn.

A monthly feature on a hymn of the faith. This one is reminiscent of Isaiah 54:3: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”

Some countries go crazy for soccer or football. Wales adds another passion: singing. Its big event in mid-July, which draws 4,000 participants and 50,000 visitors to Llangollen, usual population about 4,000, features singing and music! The Welsh have historically been a singing people, from the early years of coal mining when workers sang their way into the mines. They’ve had music festivals going back to the 12th century. Into this culture in the early 1700s rose a young man, Willliam Williams, son of a wealthy farmer, who graduated from the university as a physician. At this time in England, the Wesleys and Whitfield were evangelizing thousands in open-air meetings. But in the southwest corner of Britain, Wales, Howell Harris was the electrifying evangelist. One day Williams heard Harris preach from atop a gravestone in a church yard. That day he was converted, and his life focus changed from medicine to soul care.

After that, Williams pursued ordination in the established Church of England, but soon left that and in 1744 devoted himself to the Methodist teachings of the Wesleys. Soon after that he wrote the Welsh text to a hymn built on the Exodus accounts, which we know as “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.” Just as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years, Williams devoted more than forty years of his life to itinerant evangelism. He endured snow, rain, heat, beatings by mobs and more as he traveled by foot and by horseback, covering more than 95,000 miles as he preached and sang.  He sometimes drew huge crowds—10,000, and once an estimated 80,0000, noting in his journal that God helped him speak loud enough for all to hear.

One writer remarked, “He sang Wales into piety.” He was considered the poet laureate of the Welsh revival.  He wrote 800 hymns, most of them unknown because they were never translated from Welsh.  This one was. 

When it came over the Atlantic to the United States, it was among hymns learned by the wife of President James Garfield. As he lay dying of an assassin’s bullet, the President’s wife began singing this song. Garfield began to cry and turning to his doctor remarked, “Glorious, isn’t it?”

Its popularity continues in Wales, where it’s often sung at soccer matches. It also was chosen for more dignified British occasions, including the 1991 funeral of Princess Diana and the 2011 wedding of her son Prince William to Catherine Middleton. With its universal message of God’s help in struggle—the big lesson of the Exodus—it affirms that God is our provider and “Bread of Heaven” in our own barren lands.

Join a full church in singing this hymn! The final lyrics are in the Welsh language https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=%22guide+me+o+thou+great+jehovah%22%2byoutube&docid=607999375793913958&mid=E70189B64274AC8EA5ECE70189B64274AC8EA5EC&view=detail&FORM=