What would a 43-year old Civil War veteran have to say that I
would value? Especially when he admits that he doesn’t have the answers to so
many questions that I might ask...or that you might even suspect that Daniel
Webster Whittle asked of himself, as he composed the words for “I Know Whom I
Have Believed”. Just count ‘em, all eight of the pretty fair questions that
Whittle says stumped him, and yet he contends that there’s one overriding
factor that pushes all of those questions into insignificance. If that factor—that
dynamic, overpowering, all-consuming fact—were true, how much would its
information chip be worth today? They weren’t invented in Whittle’s era, nor
even dreamed of probably, but having such a valuable piece of information today
would kinda be like having a silicon chip (see a sketch here),
Daniel Whittle had a life-changing experience that came
about in his early adult life, something that he probably reflected upon many
years later and summed up in “I Know…”. He reached the rank of major in the
Union forces during the Civil War during his early ‘20s, a seminal event that scarred,
but also shaped him for the remainder of his days. He lost part of his right
arm in battle, and was a prisoner in a hospital – lots of negative there,
right? But, it was there that he found God, apparently by reading a New
Testament and reluctantly praying with a dying soldier. He’d also been greatly
impacted by meeting the preacher Dwight Moody. Some 20 years later, though
active as an evangelist with Moody’s support, he admitted in this song he wrote
in 1883 that he was still confounded in many ways. Here’s what he says he did
NOT know: 1. Why God’s grace-message had come to him; 2. Why Christ had saved
him; 3. How Christ had given him faith; 4. How believing God’s message had
given him peace; 5. How the Spirit acts; 6. What good or dire events awaited
him, despite knowing Him; 7. When the Lord would come; 8. Where he’d meet Him
when He returns. But, he did have one answer, and it was revealed by finding the
‘Who’ in his life. It was in that prisoner-of-war hospital that he’d found Him,
as he said years later. Whittle was known as “Major” for the rest of his life—it’s
on his tombstone, even—so it’s not a stretch to imagine him sharing many
thoughts from his war experience with hearers who were eager to hear Major
Whittle talk about faith. It must have struck him, even two decades later, that
much of what he didn’t know in that hospital encounter still mystified him.
But, knowing Him was the key.
Whittle would not have made a very credible journalist, would
he? He still had lots of, ‘What’, ‘When’, Why’, ‘Where’, and ‘How’ questions. Me
too. I cannot explain in detail how most things work, including how this
computer that I’m using right now works. But, it’s got those little chips and
circuits, etc. that make my knowledge gaps moot. Wow! Take that techno- wonder
and imagine it as the theo-logical wonder. Try tapping into that mother board!
The following sources provided background for this story:
The Complete Book
of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs, by William
J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Also see these sites for biographic information on composer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster_Whittle
See this site for all five original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/k/w/ikwihb.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment