Gipsy Smith, a famous evangelist in Great Britain of yesteryear, said of the blessings in this song, “Men sing it, boys whistle it and women rock their babies to sleep to it.”
Johnson Oatman, Jr., born April 21, 1856, was a citizen of Lumberton, N.J. His dad was a local merchant and just happened to be the best singer in town, with a rich, powerful voice. Young Johnson could not sing as well as his father and his father told everyone, “Don’t let Johnson sing.” The truth was the elder Oatman wanted his son to become a pastor in the Methodist church. The family sent young Johnson to finishing school and to seminary. Eventually Johnson was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal churches. The boy was uneasy and troubled, for he wanted to make some kind of contribution with music, just like his father.
Likewise, I can relate to wanting to please my father, can you? To this day I can remember as a seven-year old hearing my father tell his friends, “The boy couldn’t carry a tune in a number 10 washtub.” Our cherub choir had performed a couple of songs for the Sunday evening church worship service. I spent the rest of my life trying to prove my father wrong.
Johnson felt the same way.
Happy hymns
At 36, he realized that he did, without question, have a musical talent after all. He was able to write songs for other Christians to sing. Johnson had as his goal the challenge of writing a hymn every day. Eventually he had written 5,000 songs and was happy that in his musical compositions he had found a way to “preach the Gospel.”
Of all the songs Oatman wrote, Johnson seemed to claim as his own favorites, “No, Not One” and “Higher Ground.”
One of the last songs that he wrote, this particular hymn reflected his tedious process of making sure that each year he had written enough hymns. Oatman died in Norman, OK in 1922.
Perhaps you have guessed the famous and popular hymn written by Johnson Oatman, Count Your Blessings. Thinking about its words seems incredibly important at this time of year.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.Refrain
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Tempest tossed
Do you know what a tempest is? A tempest is a storm at sea. Have you ever been caught in a storm at sea? Ocean, sea or water of any kind rarely invites my presence. But this past year, performing the marriage ceremony for my sister beckoned my service. Her marriage dreams included the exchanging of vows on the edge of the beach at Panama City. The wedding was to take place at 5:30 in the afternoon, about three hours after Hurricane Irma was to bombard the beach. We moved the time table forward, and the hour ceremony was given a “Reader’s Digest” touch in just a half-an-hour, and literally just steps ahead of the storm.
An older gentleman spectator said we should count our blessings that we averted the hurricane.
The wonderful encouragement to “Count your blessings” is often misused. Counting blessings does not mean you deny that you’re having problems. It does not mean to ignore your troubling emotions. The advice to “Cheer up and act like everything is fine” just doesn’t work! Turning a blind eye to the problem certainly doesn’t lead to lasting joy and peace. The hymn is actually encouraging us to acknowledge openly that we are “tempest-tossed.”
Angry waves, or God’s calm?
What is your tempest? Can you see it coming across the sea’s horizon? Have you determined to face it alone – or would it be smarter to “batten down the hatches” by bathing the circumstance in prayer?
Therefore, whatever your tempest, look at it closely. The smudges of God’s fingerprints illuminate in front of the prayerful eye. His hand grasped it tightly from the very beginning.
In God’s hands, your tempest counts as a blessing. Go figure .
Counting your blessings appreciates, one-by-one, moment-by-moment, God’s involvement in daily life, “working all things together for good.” It understands that we have “every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Genuine thanks and praise to God goes with openly unburdening ourselves before the listening ears of the “Father of compassion” and “God of all comfort,” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Today, count your blessings. Name them, one by one. It just may surprise you what the Lord has done.