Songs in the Night

Ultimately, a "night season" will come into every person's life. These nights of doubt, of trial, of broken relationships, of loneliness, of anxiety, of misunderstanding, of bewilderment, of loss often will be a time of testing and trial. It is easy to sing in the sunshine when life flows along like a song. But at night the song must emerge from the shadows and come form the melody that the Lord puts within one's life. As the story of Job testifies, when darkness overtakes us, "God...gives song in the night."

This radiant truth has been confirmed in the experience of innumerable people who, when going through the dark valleys, have been encouraged and sustained by the song God gave to them. As the inspiring stories in this volume show, many of our best-loved hymns were born in the crucible of trial and suffering. Charlotte Elliott wrote "Just As I Am" when she was a helpless invalid. Francis Ridley Havergal, author of "Take My Life" and many other hymns, suffered ill health. "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" was composed by William Cowper in an hour of mental distress. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was written by the young Joseph Scriven when not long before his wedding day his fiancﾨﾦe was drowned.

Songs in the Night gathers one hundred biblical, historical, and contemporary examples of those who turned their sorrows into songs. Henry Gariepy vividly describes these songs, their authors, and the circumstances in which the songs were written. He has also divided these hymns into thirteen sections according to theme ﾡﾪ a structure that lends an important devotional element to his work. Reading the stirring stories behind these great songs of faith will make them all the more meaningful to everyone who still sings them today.