Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

As the story goes, one day in 1887 Anthony J. Showalter (1858-1924), a Presbyterian elder and principal of a music school in Dalton, Georgia, was leading a singing school in a local church in Hartselle, Alabama. After dismissing the class for the evening, he returned to his boardinghouse and found that two letters had arrived, both from former students of his. And each had recently suffered the same heartbreaking loss, the death of his wife. Seeking to comfort them, Showalter wrote back to the young men and included this passage from Deuteronomy 33:27: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms . . ."  Reflecting on these words, Showalter thought of a simple stanza: "Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, Leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms." After finishing the letters, Showalter wrote another to his friend, Presbyterian minister and hymnist Elisha Albright Hoffman (1839-1929), saying, "Here is the chorus for a good hymn from Deuteronomy 33:27, but I can't come up with any verses."  Hoffman obligingly wrote three stanzas and sent them back to his friend in Dalton. Showalter (or, perhaps his nephew Sam E. Duncan) then set the text to music, and published it later that year in the hymnal Glad Evangel for Revival, Camp, and Evangelistic Meetings. The result was one of America's most beloved gospel songs, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

Anthony J. Showalter and Elisha A. Hoffman

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

In the simplest yet sweetest terms possible, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms expresses the inner peace and sense of safety that the believer enjoys. Even in the gravest trouble and the deepest grief, we know that the Lord is near ("I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5));He is "with [us] always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20)  With faith in Him, we need never fear for our souls or for the endless life with Him that we have been promised. Just as Anthony Showalter reminded his grieving friends, we have our Eternal God for a refuge, and are upheld by His everlasting arms! (for perhaps the most complete and compelling expression of these wonderful truths, see Psalm 91)

You can still visit the place where Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was, according to local folks, first sung in public: the 1850s-vintage Old Stone Church in Ringgold, Georgia--just a few miles south of where I used to live in Chattanooga, Tennessee (and where Anthony Showalter passed away in 1924). They say that Mr. Showalter led singing in the church twice a month while its pastor was away in Dalton; one Sunday after services he was invited home for lunch by one of the church members, and while there put the finishing touches on the song, which the Ringgold congregation debuted that evening. Watch the video below for the full story:



From a review of the available video rendition, it appears that Leaning on the Everlasting Arms is usually sung at a very sprightly tempo--perhaps in keeping with its positive, happy message. Here is a version by an unidentified church congregation, performed at the song's normal rhythm:



I prefer a more stately, heartfelt rendition, which keeps the song's message of perfect hope and joy, while infusing it with a greater reverence. Here is one by the great Mahalia Jackson:



But my favorite is the rendition by American folk singer Iris DeMent, which served as the underlying musical theme and closing number in the 2010 Western film True Grit. In my opinion, no version better captures the simple earnestness and peaceful assurance that the text conveys. The video below features Ms. DeMent's singing, along with beautiful country scenes and images of the Savior.



May you feel the Lord's arms enfolding you and bearing you up every moment of every day!

Listen to me . . .
you who have been borne by me
from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.

~  Isaiah 46:3-4 (ESV)