SHOWERS OF BLESSING
Major Daniel Whittle, 1840-1901
And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. - Ezekiel 34:26
There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Chorus:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops 'round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
There shall be showers of blessing--
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain. [Chorus]
There shall be showers of blessing:
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing;
Come and now honor Thy Word. [Chorus]
There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we're confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call! [Chorus]
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Hymn Story: The Bible in the Haversack
Major Daniel Whittle, evangelist and author of many hymns including Showers of Blessing, I Know Whom I Have Believed and Moment by Moment, wrote this of his conversion shortly after being wounded in the Civil War:
We had many engagements, and I saw many sad sights, and in one of the battles I was knocked out, and that night my arm was amputated above the elbow. As I grew better, having a desire for something to read, I felt in my haversack, which I had been allowed to keep, and found the little Testament my mother had placed there.
I read right through the book – Matthew, Mark, Luke, to Revelation. Every part was interesting to me; and I found to my surprise that I could understand it in a way that I never had before. When I had finished Revelation, I began at Matthew, and read it through again. And so for days I continued reading, and with continued interest; and still with no thought of becoming a Christian, I saw clearly from what I read the way of salvation through Christ.
Major Whittle went on to tell about a dying soldier next to him in the hospital who begged Whittle to pray for him.
Whittle wrote:
I dropped on my knees and held the boy’s hand in mine. In a few broken words I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed earnestly for the boy.
He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed and pleaded God’s promises. When I arose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior, used me to lead him to trust Christ’s precious blood and find pardon. I hope to meet him in heaven.
And the chain of events started with a mother's love and a New Testament in a soldier's haversack.
Whittle soon became an evangelist and hymn writer and met James McGranahan at the scene of the tragic train wreck that killed their mutual friend Philip Bliss, a fellow hymn writer and composer.
Whittle and McGranahan became close friends and a dynamic songwriter and composer duo whose works were popularized during Dwight L.Moody's and Ira Sankey's evangelistic campaigns.
