This Civil War veteran did not start out being a believer, but something must have intervened to change his outlook. Could it have been the war, which permanently maimed Daniel Webster Whittle with the amputation of his right arm? What in the world would change someone who suffered so grievously, that he was able to tell others that “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing” years later? Despite his wartime service, or perhaps because of it, Daniel had found something that would stay with him, even though his battlefield experiences had cost him a limb. Major Whittle, as he would be known for the remainder of his life, was a vivid example of someone who trusted, an amputee who knew his God and His promises were worth more than his right arm.
Daniel Webster Whittle was 43 years old in 1883, when the song ‘There Shall Be Showers…’ first appeared in print, some 20 years and a number of life-altering events after the 1860s, perhaps the hinge-point of his life. At war’s end, Daniel probably could not have imagined himself doing what came to be his life’s purpose, but perhaps it all started with a New Testament that his mother placed in bag as he went off to war. Was it the loss of his arm that finally pushed him to read this during his time in a field hospital? Following the war, his time with Dwight Moody in Chicago also played a significant role in his Christian development, though he’d begun his postwar life initially in a clock company. It was apparently Moody who coaxed the major to focus his life on evangelism instead, perhaps seeing that his life was a walking message to others about God’s work. Daniel apparently collaborated with James McGranahan, who wrote the tune for this hymn and many other songs that that the two men worked together to produce; these two reportedly travelled together on many evangelism tours, suggesting that it was on one of their trips when ‘Showers…’ was created by them. And, the song title suggests Whittle was reading or preaching about Ezekiel 34:26 on that occasion. Did Whittle find especially resonant the message from that prophet about sheep being cared for directly by the Lord, that this God would send showers of blessing? Every verse of his song begins with this promise about showers of blessing, about the provision of this God that Whittle had grown to trust unconditionally. What would it have been like to hear a message from a one-armed veteran about the blessings of life?
Whittle associated many facets of knowing God with the showers he trusted God would deliver. Trust and obedience (v.5); certainty of His love (v.1); confession and submission (v.4); prayer (refrain, v.3); and His abundant nature (v.2) all resound in Daniel’s poetry, things he had evidently gleaned from the prophet’s writings. Did he also pen his words as a response to how his own life had progressed to that point? He’d seen the misery of war, and had survived. ‘Was it luck?’, you could imagine the major might have asked himself one or multiple times. Perhaps Daniel had surmised that God is the provider he needed, no matter what is going on. Think about it, and see if you agree with Daniel.
See more information on the author of the song’s verses 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; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.
Also see this link, showing all five original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/h/e/r/s/thershow.htm
Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/h/i/t/t/whittle_dw.htm
And here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster_Whittle
No comments:
Post a Comment