When people say the name, John Newton, our thoughts usually go to “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound,” yet, that was just one of the numerous hymns that he authored. Our Tuesday Hymn for this week is one of Newton’s hymns which we sang together at Reformed Presbyterian Church last Sunday: “Though Troubles Assail Us.”
It is a hymn describing the faithfulness of God in the life of His people as “troubles assail us and dangers affright.” Newton reminds us that we are secure in Christ, even in a fallen world filled with troubles, temptations, hunger, and persecution. Our hope is to be found in the Biblical promise: “The Lord will provide.” Newton’s experience of God’s grace in Christ is a great encouragement to believers everywhere and his epitaph (which he wrote himself) reminds us of what God can do in the life of a sinner:
“JOHN NEWTON, Clerk
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach
the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy.
He ministered,
Near sixteen years in Olney, in Bucks,
And twenty-eight years in this Church.”
Now, “Though Troubles Assail Us.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
He tells us we’re weak, our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek we never shall obtain,
But when such suggestions, our graces have tried,
This answers all questions, “The Lord will 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.”
When life sinks apace, and death is in view,
The word of His grace shall comfort us through,
Not fearing or doubting, with Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting, “The Lord will provide.”
The Rankin File 