Most of us would like to have a “hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” bible-based, supernatural experience to look back on during times of discouragement. Perhaps sharing mine will encourage you.
It was 1970 and Joy and I were finishing our first semester at Northeast Bible College. Our daughter Sandra was five; Cheryl about three.
I was barely keeping up with the payments on our mobile home even though I was working a job evenings and weekends. As a result, Joy was sometimes typing legal depositions all night long in order to help out. I was a little depressed.
One evening, I ignored my studies and sat up late reading a simple little book called “Prison to Praise” by Merlin R. Carothers. I followed the author’s advice and went to bed that night obediently singing and praising God.
I awoke abruptly at 5 AM, with a song going ‘round and ‘round in my mind. It was totally unfamiliar, so I rose and in less than five minutes wrote down the verses that poured out. Such a thing may not seem remarkable to you, but I am not a poet. Yet all of the verses seemed to fall into perfect meter and even rhymed. (Joy would make fun of my penchant for rhymed verse; she preferred free verse, but she was startled that these words were written down in less than five minutes, as was I.)
The only change I ever made in the poem was to reverse the order of two of the lines. I learned that the words were “original, but the melody was not. The tune was from the old hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation.
Later that morning, while shopping in the college bookstore, I met the president’s wife, and told her of my unusual experience. She was so impressed with the testimony that she discussed it with others, and they arranged to have it sung in chapel the following week.
Perhaps it was coincidental, but that afternoon I received a cassette recording in the mail. It was an audio letter from my best friends apologizing that he had been unable to assist us in following God’s call to Bible college. He recounted how he’d set down a “fleece.” He had told the Lord that, if he received a raise in pay, he would send all but his tithe and the taxes to us. Nothing happened. After some time passed without an answer, he revised his fleece. He told the Lord that if the raise came before a certain date, he would use it toward our support. Otherwise, he would use it for another ministry. God answered prayer a few minutes before quitting time on the very last workday of the“fleece.”
As a result of their generosity, for the remaining two years at Northeast, this brother and his dear wife faithfully sent us $150 per month toward our expenses. That may not sound like much, but that was 1970, and the sum was equivalent to more than $1,500 per month in today’s dollars.
To illustrate, after we sold our mobile home, God blessed us with a rented house on about 10 acres overlooking the beautiful Green Lane Reservoir. We paid only $75 per month rent for that house. Today, rent on that same house would be at least $1,500. Although it was necessary for me to continue working a job, and though we had some lean times, God continued to meet our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
I called the song, “A Morning Prayer.” Here are the words that flowed through my heart that memorable morning:
Oh, precious Lord our Savior,
Be with us through this day;
and keep your hand upon us,
each thing we do and say.
For we are but your children
and need your guiding hand,
to keep us safely moving
through out this sin-filled land.
Your love is more than money,
your trust is more than fame,
your present help each morning
more precious than acclaim.
Our lives last but a moment,
our dreams are for a day,
we need you close beside us,
our help along the way.
This world is bent and broken,
it needs the word, yes you!
So help us Lord to start now
to win a soul for you.
To thy great list be added
a former sinner's name,
and thine shalt be the honor,
the glory and the fame.
Although there were certainly some skeptics that believed that the poem wasn’t original, and others that I spent a long time putting together a false testimony, it occurred exactly as I’ve written. Ordinarily I couldn’t write a line of poetry if my life depended on it.
This song is sort of a “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” a monument on our walk with God. When times get tough, it’s something that we can look back on to encourage us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
In a sense, it may be a symbol for many of you as well, for you have been mightily blessed by God.
There is a lesson here, a lesson that is written in the pages of God’s Word: “The Lord inhabits the praises of His people.”
If things seem dark, escape your prison, as Paul and Silas did, by making a joyful noise unto the Lord.
©2011, 2016 Frank Becker