Rev. Don Campbell
Luke 24:29
A SONG A DAY, January 13, 2020
“Abide with Me”
When it was reported that Jesus had been raised, some ran to the tomb to see for themselves. After he appeared and expounded how Moses and the Prophets had written of him and was indicating that he would depart from them, they urged: “Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”
Accounts differ as to the occasion of the hymn, but an “article in The Spectator, Oct. 3, 1925, says that Lyte composed the hymn in 1820 while visiting a dying friend. It was related that Lyte was staying with the Hore family in County Wexford and had visited an old friend, William Augustus Le Hunte, who was dying. As Lyte sat with the dying man, William kept repeating the phrase “Abide With Me…”. After leaving William’s bedside Lyte wrote the hymn and gave a copy of it to Le Hunte’s family.
Lyte’s daughter shares the following: “The summer was passing away, and the month of September (that month in which he was once more to quit his native land) arrived, and each day seemed to have a special value as being one day nearer his departure. His family were surprised and almost alarmed at his announcing his intention of preaching once more to his people. His weakness and the possible danger attending the effort, were urged to prevent it, but in vain. ‘It was better’, as he used to say often playfully, when in comparative health, ‘to wear out than to rust out.’ He felt that he should be enabled to fulfil his wish, and feared not for the result. His expectation was well founded. He did preach, and amid the breathless attention of his hearers, gave them a sermon on the Holy Communion … In the evening of the same day he placed in the hands of a near and dear relative the little hymn, “Abide with Me.” The first two verses follow:
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that God said, “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (13:5-6).
“Link to YouTube Video – Abide with Me”
