He was 39 years old, and had recently been forced to change
his vocational path because of his health. He’d been a minister, but Thomas Obadiah
Chisholm found this venture in Kentucky didn’t last long, and so he and his
family had moved to Indiana (see picture of this region of the country). It was
during this disorder in his life that Chisholm wrote out the words for “Only in
Thee”. What goes through someone’s soul and mind in a life-challenge like
Chisholm’s? ‘Why me, God?’, someone moans. ‘What do I do now?’ Did Thomas
Chisholm mouth these complaints? Maybe he did, but he must have come out on the
other side of this period’s valley. Consider what he composed, and how it gives
us a picture of this fellow.
Thomas O. Chisholm had been a lifelong Kentuckian from 1866
until about the time that he composed “Only in Thee”. His humble background
began with his birth in a log house and life on the family farm. He was
educated in a rural schoolhouse, where he became the teacher while still a
teenager. So, though a modest environment nurtured Chisholm, he showed promise
evidently. He wrote poems that were published in local newspapers (the Franklin
Favorite, and the Louisville Courier Journal, among others) , and
worked for these or other newspapers along the way. If someone had asked him what he imagined
himself doing for the rest of his life, would it have surprised anyone that he
might have said ‘journalism’ or ‘writing’? His conversion to the faith also
played a part in his development, obviously, and he ultimately was ordained as
a minister. But, an undefined health issue forced a rather abrupt change in
venue. Not only a change in career, but also scenery, came upon Chisholm and
his family. They left Kentucky for Indiana, where this poet made insurance his
vocational pastime, an endeavor that continued later as they moved to New
Jersey. But, it was this change in direction, both physically and vocationally,
that may have been on the mind of this 39-year-old hymn-writer. One would
imagine he must have had support from his family during the change. His words indicate
he had God’s support, too, for peace (verse 1), guidance (verse 2), and eternal
confidence (last verse). As mid-life
(usually around 40 for fellas) appeared on his horizon, Thomas had the focus on
something—rather, someone, namely God—that would not just hold him up, but lift
him above the temporal. He called out as vain the ‘pleasures of Earth’ and ‘life’s
trackless sea’ in his thoughts in 1905. It didn’t matter if he was in Kentucky
or Indiana, whether he was a minister or a journalist or in the insurance
business. He’d discovered that he only needed Him.
What might T.O. Chisholm readily say to you or me if he were
still around today? Stability…that’s Him, as we look to Him as our Rock and
Anchor..only in Him. But, He’s the one who helps us evolve, to change. We must,
or we grow stale or decompose. What if Chisholm had been stubborn and decided
he couldn’t leave Kentucky, that the Lord had called him to ministry even if it
cost him his health, permanently? It seems that Thomas had realized what could
change and what should stay the same as he approached 40. His life’s turn in
1905 and his testimony in the words he wrote are a good reminder which ones are
which.
See following for all four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/n/i/oninthee.htm
See these sites for composer’s biography:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=43600909
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