This 32-year-old Scotsman (this work of art depicts him as a young man, perhaps not too different than he appeared at the time) had just travelled through a couple of his life’s major turning points. And so, Horatius Bonar, must have appreciated God’s presence very much when he said “Yes For Me He Careth”. It probably was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, either, that Horatius lauded His close proximity and camaraderie, evident in the hundreds of hymns that this man who was called a ‘prince’ would author. Trouble and joy both inhabited the spirit of Horatius in 1844, prompting him to notice and pen the words describing how he felt with His Lord so close by. One might say that his poetry resonates like a love song, reminding hearers of the many facets this Deity’s nature can take to caress those in His image.
Horatius Bonar earned the nickname ‘prince of Scottish hymn writers’, with over 600 hymns attributed to him over the seven decades that he lived in Scotland, including over 50 years as an ordained minister. By his early 30s (in 1843), Horatius married and also left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland, two events that one can imagine gave this man’s life no small amount of upheaval, both good and bad. The marriage’s emotional impact on Horatius is not recorded for us, but the events of the Disruption of 1843 – which severed ties between hundreds of ministers and elders and the established church – was no doubt bitter. (The ‘free’ church objected to the British government’s control over clerical positions and benefits.) It was the year afterward in which‘Yes…He Careth’ was first published, in the first of eight collections of poems and hymns that Bonar would write over nearly a four-decade stretch of his life. This first collection was titled Songs for the Wilderness, so were Horatius’ thoughts in “Yes…He Careth’ spurred by his communing with nature in his native Edinburgh area (coastal southeastern Scotland), specifically the Kelso area where he was at the time? One could imagine Bonar taking a walk in some woods or in a meadow in the wake of the events in his recent past, and saying ‘Lord, I love you for being nearby, and for looking out for me’. He lauded God’s willingness not only to ‘care’ for him, but also to ‘share…burden…fear’, to ‘watch’, and to ‘snatch’ him from danger (v.1). While verse one’s focus could be interpreted as earthly concerns, Bonar turns to the spiritual in verse two, with God ‘pleading at the mercy seat’, ‘interceding’, (in)dwelling, and filling this Scotsman. (Original words according to one source. Other sources show alternate words.) Perhaps it was this pretty volatile season of life, with two very important events that nearly coincided, that so drew Horatius’ attention to the One on whom he could depend for calm reassurance. That indeed would be reason for poetry and music-making.
Can you and I draw on this early 30s experience that Horatius Bonar endured in 1843? It’s almost a rhetorical question, since no one has a perfectly smooth journey from birth to death. Ups and downs define my walk, how about you? I can usually tell when something’s got hold of me, by my sleep patterns. It’s almost analogous to what historians have said regarding war and peace on earth – peace is not the norm, war is. That’s also true of an individual’s experience, and if I can judge from my own sleep cycles, they indicate when my insides are unsettled, even at war sometimes, with my peaceful aspirations. But, Horatius tells me that God is still there, even so. It seems like Horatius dwelled in that realization to arrive at the peace he found. Sounds like a plan to me.
See information on the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/o/n/a/bonar_h.htm
See also here: https://hymnary.org/person/Bonar_Horatius
See also here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatius_Bonar
See the song’s verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/y/f/m/h/yfmhcare.htm
See here some description of a major event in the author’s life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruption_of_1843
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