Songs are powerful means of communicating what is true and beautiful and good. They often have the ability to break through defenses that simple statements of facts can’t. They give voice to the depths of our experiences. Truths we have held dear for years are illuminated in new ways when put in verse and set to music. I think that is why we find examples of music throughout history and in most cultures.

A song that God has used to minister to me in recent days is Abide With Me. Written about 150 years ago by Henry Lyte, the version I have been listening to is by Indelible Grace and comes with a newer tune which is beautiful in its simplicity.  The hymn centers around the repeated plea for the Lord to “abide with me”. Most likely, the songwriter picked up this theme from John 15, where not only are believers told to abide in Christ but are also assured that Christ also abides with them.

Here’s a little taste of the hymn from the first verse:

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, abide with me.

The first two lines set the scene. It is not one of frivolity and ease and light. It is of a darkness that is coming fast and growing deeper, not getting better but actually growing worse. The writer leaves the darkness undefined. It could be the darkness of sin, of cultural decline, or even of death (which was probably on Lyte’s mind as he wrote this near the end of his life). Many feel this way about our current moment in time.

The third line only adds to the sense of dread. All our helpers fail. Family, friends, pastors, politicians, each and every one is unable to give us what we need in such darkness. And what about all the ways and means we have used to comfort ourselves in the past? They don’t merely fail us; they are nowhere to be found. They have fled the scene.

So, is all hope lost? Not according to the last line. There is one who will not fail or flee. He is the “help of the helpless”. Oh, what a wonderful reality! It is this phrase to which I keep returning. What true comfort and delight to know that “my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2). And this help is part of His character. Therefore, it cannot fail or be lacking.

But what really strikes me is how the writer responds to this truth. Knowing that God is his helper, what does he cry out for? “Destroy the darkness?” No. “Bring back all my comforts and other helpers?” Still no. “Deliver me from the circumstances of this darkness?” Yet again, no. Instead, three times his plea is “abide with me”. Lord, if you are near and present with me and are my help, that is what I most need in the darkness and it is enough.

Saints, take comfort in knowing that whatever the days, weeks, months, and years ahead may hold (and they likely hold some form of darkness for all of us), that Jesus is still the “help of the helpless”. And may we plead, individually and corporately, for the presence and nearness of our God to abide with us whatever may come.