Let Him Have His Way with Thee -- Cyrus S. Nusbaum

 

Cyrus Silvester Nusbaum was a 26-year old first-time pastor who was probably wondering if he had chosen the right path. He wasn’t making much, and he felt even less reward spiritually and emotionally for the work about which he was engaged in 1887 in southeastern Kansas (including around Wichita, see its flag here). And so, he asked himself a series of questions in one late-night prayer, and then answered “Let Him Have His Way with Thee” when he was through. Perhaps Cyrus had put on the scales what he thought he’d received, versus what he’d given, and decided that the relative weights of those things were not so out of balance after all. In fact, he must have decided that he was getting much more than he’d given, and that some of what was in his credit column he’d not even set eyes upon yet. Let’s see what turned around Cyrus’ calculations.   

 

Pastor Nusbaum was trying to look after no less than seven different groups of believers in his first year of ministry, a challenge that must have weighed heavily upon his wife and himself. They had hoped for better news when they attended the church’s (Methodist) conference that year, but instead they were called upon to remain in the arduous task where they were. So, Cyrus did what any good pastor, nevertheless feeling discouraged and frankly rather defiant, would do: he prayed. It was around midnight, hours after he had heard the news that he had hoped would be better, and his wife was already asleep. Alone, he evidently thought about how much he owed God and what he was willing to give of himself, and these came out in a series of questions, nine in all. The three poetry verses that Nusbaum authored showed he weighed the advantages and disadvantages in each stream of thought. He determined that following Jesus, and the pursuit of purity and goodness along the straight and narrow was a price he could pay, if God would be there to help him with the heavy load (v.1). By verse 2, Cyrus was seeing the gifts from Him more readily – the spiritual freedom, peace, and salvation were his if he just surrendered and allowed Him to do his will upon Cyrus’ life. Finally, Cyrus saw that a rest and the divine guarantees were immutable rewards that were his when he lived a life of giving his very best back to this God (v.3). So, delayed gratification was part of what helped Cyrus transform his approach, with the thought of incalculable riches that awaited in Eternity. And, he could count upon this God to not make the burdens of his ministry unbearable; in fact, those adverse things he could chalk up as part of the landscape of his chosen life of acquiring peace through complete sacrifice. This was a life in which Jesus’ power, blood, and love (refrain) could outflank all other enemies that might afflict Cyrus Nusbaum.  

  

Cyrus’ season of difficulty in southeastern Kansas did not continue forever. Though he spent most of the rest of his life in Kansas, Nusbaum went on to other legs of service in the Kingdom, including serving at a college, and later as a Red Cross inspector in France in World War I. But, because he continued in various roles in Kansas and elsewhere (including evangelism campaigns in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas) one can assume that the lessons he learned in his initial foray into professional ministry stuck with him until the end, in 1937. He can probably tell you and me, when we meet him, that to let Him have His way, no matter where this submission took him, was the best choice he could have made.    

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

 

Also see this link, showing all three original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/i/s/w/hiswaywt.htm

 

Also see this link for author’s brief biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/n/u/s/nusbaum_cs.htm