Let's Just Praise the Lord -- Gloria and William J. Gaither

 

This 30-something couple was surprised by what they encountered one evening along the East Coast of the U.S. at a concert in 1972. That’s probably because Bill and Gloria Gaither had been told, behind the scenes of the stage that they occupied that night, that this crowd would likely be rather cool. So the reaction the Gaithers had to the unexpected events of that evening was to tell future crowds “Let’s Just Praise the Lord”, rather than allow admiration for their presentation to morph into acclaim for themselves. The words Gloria first suggested they adopt for the song’s message turned out to be not just for that one occasion, but more or less a reflective notion that they wanted to suggest to their audiences. ‘In what circumstances should I commend His work in my life?’, they might ask you and me to consider. That’s a question that Bill and Gloria might tell you is more important to answer than any other.

 

The Gaithers had already had some life experiences that would enlighten their musical praise toward God when they sang on stage in 1972, but the many years since that night have deepened their appreciation of the words that He gave them to sing on a bus following that night’s concert. They sang other songs that night that had stories which resonated with audience members – ones like ‘Because He Lives’ and ‘There’s Just Something About That Name’ (see other entries in this blog for those stories); and ‘The King is Coming’ (see Gloria’s book referenced below for this story). Maybe it was the background of those stories that helped Bill and Gloria stay humble, and be able to draw upon a deeper truth as they fought the temptation to drink in the crowd’s praise for them at the end of the concert. They didn’t want to disparage the enthusiastic believers who cheered their talent, but they felt a need to deflect what the crowd was expressing. So, aboard their bus after the concert’s conclusion, Bill said something that he probably didn’t realize, in that moment, would become the first verse of ‘Let’s Just Praise…’. It was Gloria who captured the words emerging from Bill’s mouth, and recorded them – words that would thank listeners for their reactions to the music, but redirect the praise toward the Giver of all good things. And, as Gloria shared some 35 years later in her book, not only the good things, but also the difficult things, can be avenues for finding and appreciating Him in one’s life. She shares that God’s processes are not mere methods to get us to a goal, but that the processes we meet in life are the goal. He uses these events to ‘crowd us into a relationship with Him’. So, the word ‘just’ in their song is not an accident. When the tough episodes especially envelop us, what else can one do, except ‘just’ praise the Lord?  

 

Were Bill and Gloria thinking of the ancient believer Job (see Job 1:20-22), perhaps even subliminally, when they pondered what to convey in ‘Let’s Just Praise…’? He’s there, but when He’s silent, that’s when it is hardest to cling to Him. Gloria says her perspective – and yours and mine, too – must broaden before we can acquire the endurance needed in the hardest times. It seems that Bill and Gloria had the ‘Let’s Just Praise the Lord’ experience in a good time that also helped them see the ‘just’ part of praising Him. When I’m feeling bereft in a valley, what else have I got except to look forward to Him and Glory? Alternately, how often might I feel I’m on the mountaintop, and that things look pretty awesome here on Earth, and so who needs Him? Is it harder for you to see Him in the valley or on the mountaintop? The Gaithers say He’s in both places.  

 

 

The primary source for the song’s story is the book Something Beautiful – The Stories Behind a Half-Century of the Songs of Bill and Gloria Gaither, by Gloria Gaither, Faith Words of Hachette Book Group, New York, 2007.

See the song story here also: https://dianaleaghmatthews.com/lets-just-praise-the-lord/#.YPqrT0ApCUk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gaither_(gospel_singer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Gaither

 

He Touched Me -- William J. Gaither

 

It was actually someone else’s idea, but Bill Gaither found that he agreed so much with the suggestion, that he consummated the idea the next day. It was a spark from a special gathering, somewhere not too far from Bill’s home in Alexandria, Indiana, that compelled Bill to say “He Touched Me” in 1963 or 1964. Was it also the foresight that a certain preacher possessed that played a part in coaxing the music and words to emerge from Bill’s insides that day? Maybe it was in fact the synergy of three people -- Bill and two others at the gathering -- which gave Bill the inspiration that directed his mind and his hands to create something that would change his life. His life had already been changed, really.

 

Bill Gaither must have suspected that music and his faith would play a key part in his life one day, even years before that became reality. He certainly must have loved making music from an early age, a disposition that eventually began to take more concrete and meaningful shape when he was in college in the mid-1950s, when his brother, sister, and he formed a singing group. Bill’s education at Anderson College also included some formal music study, along with the degree in English that he acquired. That blend in his life continued for several years, as he taught school while also taking time out to exercise the spiritual music muscle inside himself. This included an invitation he accepted to play piano on an evangelism crusade with Dan (the evangelist) and Doug Oldham (singer, and son of Dan), not far from his central Indiana home when Bill was 27 years old. It was a moving experience one night upon which the three men reflected that was the catalyst for ‘He Touched Me’. With Dan’s prompting, Bill crafted the words and music within 24 hours, which were being sung by Doug soon thereafter. It was Bill’s stepping stone into a music career, something he was doing full-time just a few years later. That must have been some event! Perhaps it was not unlike other crusades, when the message, music, and crowd response fuses into something quite special. The three men agreed that the ‘touch’ of God was a reality in the lives of people in the bible; that night when the three men experienced His ‘touch’ with hundreds of others, perhaps the sensation was so real, that Bill just could not ignore it. Its transformative power takes one onto another plane, Bill said. ‘Something happen(s)…’, and you just have to let others know about this personal revolution.

 

Read some about what others did when Jesus touched them. That was what Dan Oldham was urging Bill Gaither to do as they excitedly discussed how He’d been present among them one night. There’s too many to mention in this short space, but without fail, those people who encountered Jesus became bold. They would not be silent. Even in the face of threats from powerful people, they were undeterred. Apathy became foreign to their consciences. He brings change. He brings release from burdens. He can lift one into a completeness, unlike anything you’ve ever experienced or imagined. He’s God. That’s how He does it. That’s what Bill is telling us…just get in touch with this God, and see what happens.

   

See more information on the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.   

See song information here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Touched_Me_(song)

Also see this link for author’s biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gaither_%28gospel_singer%29 

Gentle Shepherd -- Gloria Gaither

She was a new mother, parenting without any experience, and evidently fairly aware that she and her husband might get some things wrong. Gloria Gaither says she and her husband Bill needed a “Gentle Shepherd” to help them guide their young, in the same way an owner cares for each sheep. Admitting that one is naïve, without all the correct procedures and ultimate answers, was a lesson that Gloria sounds like she probably re-learned as she and Bill dealt with each of their children. No two kids are the same, and so the gentle, light touch of the parent as an authority is so necessary for child-rearing, she indicates. How do you suppose Gloria and Bill discovered this principle?

Gloria did not just have an epiphany about parenting in a temperate, mild manner in 1974 when she and Bill began employing the gentle shepherding of their own children. Gloria shares that there were multiple sources that nudged them into this approach, toward this ‘gentle’ direction. Her mother urged Gloria as a teenager in a poem to follow the ‘Great Shepherd’ (God), some foundational advice that was rooted in various scriptures (Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew, John). She notes in the few pages of the “Gentle Shepherd” story that parents play a balancing act with their kids – firm control versus autonomy, admonition versus loving support. It was the constancy of God’s words that helped the Gaithers maintain an equilibrium, though how His precepts are applied to each new generation of children must be carefully measured, Gloria writes. She indicates that she and Bill drew upon the Spirit for discernment plenty of times. How else would one know how to shape the God-given gifts of each child and mold them for a future that neither parent could forsee? It’s a recurring theme in multi-generational families like the Gaithers’ clan, which Gloria shares had evolved by the mid-2000s so that the once-upon-a-time parents had grown into grandparents.  Their own kids have birthed five grandkids, and so what was passed along from Gloria’s mother -- and probably long before her, in fact – to Gloria and Bill, and now to their own children and grandchildren, will keep regenerating and reeducating each of their progeny, because of its timeless source.

Gloria relates how a trip to England with her daughter’s family reminded her once again of how sheep and their caretakers behave. The sheep often stray, sometimes into dangerous territory. And, the shepherds are very cautious with those under their care, aware that the sheep are vulnerable, easily misled creatures. We, like the sheep, may be misguided, but at least in admitting our condition, we can run to and cling to a protector, a wise one we know is compassionately looking out for our welfare. Am I in danger, susceptible to all sorts of peril? Sure. But, my God is sure, too. Breathe easier in His embrace, fellow sheep.               

The primary source for the above song story is the book Something Beautiful: The Stories Behind a Half-Century of the Songs of Bill and Gloria Gaither, Faith Words: Hachette Book Group USA, New York, NY, 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Gaither

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gaither_%28gospel_singer%29