Episode 124: "He Leadeth Me"

Recently graduated from seminary, Joseph Gilmore was filling in at a church in Philadelphia in 1862, at the height of fighting in the Civil War. He planned to preach from Psalm 23, but as he read, he couldn't get past the phrase "He leadeth me . . ." and his sermon was changed by the Holy Spirit. Later that evening, he wrote out what God had spoken to and through him in the form of a poem, handed it to his wife, and promptly forgot about it. His wife sent it to a Christian magazine, where it caught the attention of well-known composer William Bradbury, who put it to a melody and published it in one of his hymn collections. Three years later, Joseph Gilmore was thumbing through a hymnal in Boston and came across his own poem. Since then, it has been published in over 2,000 hymnals, and God is still using that message to speak comfort, trust, and courage into the hearts of His children around the world.http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/tph/stories/HeLeadethMe/index.htm