God Will Take Care of You

MARTIN (GOD CARES)

I. Origins

Binghamton Press (3 May 1905).

In 1900, evangelist John A. Davis (1871–1934) started a summer Bible school for adults called the Practical Bible Training School in Lestershire, Broome County, New York. In the first year, he drew 100 students. By 1904, enrollment was up to 300, and a building had been erected on Harrison Street (where the Wilson Medical Center now stands) for the purpose of facilitating housing and classrooms. A local businessman, John R. Clements (1868–1946), was actively engaged in the school’s operation. The school attracted teachers and students from other cities. Classes in 1904 included “How to study the Bible for personal growth,” “How to study the Bible as a whole,” “How to use the Bible in practical Christian work,” “How to obtain a practical knowledge of the great fundamental doctrines,” “The study of missions,” and “Music taught with a view to practical use in Christian work.”[1]

That summer, musician-evangelist Walter Stillman Martin (1862–1935) and his musical wife, Civilla D. Martin (1866–1948), were present at the school and were involved in some capacity, likely as teachers. The Martins were newly married, and they had Civilla’s son Austin (1892–1970) with them, age 11. While there, Davis asked the Martins to help him assemble a hymnal for the school. Walter had dabbled in writing hymns since 1881, but for Civilla this was a new undertaking. In total, they would write 30 hymns for the collection, which was released the following year as Songs of Redemption and Praise (1905). One hymn in particular, “God Will Take Care of You,” is memorably linked to their time in Lestershire.

Civilla gave at least two accounts of the writing of the hymn. In 1923, one account appeared in The Mennonite:

In the year of 1904, the author of “God Will Take Care of You” was spending a few weeks with friends in central New York. One Sunday, during their stay with these friends, Dr. W.S. Martin was invited to preach in a church in that city. Mrs. Martin had been ill for a long time, and on this particular day was sick enough to have a physician. On account of her condition, her husband decided to call off his preaching engagement, and was about to go to the telephone and communicate with the church people, when his son, a boy of ten years, said to his father: “Do you not believe that if God wants you to preach today He will take care of mother while you are away?”

The faith of the boy rebuked the unbelief of the father, who immediately decided to go about his work. That morning, at the close of the sermon, a large number of people confessed their faith in Christ. Hurrying home after the services, Dr. Martin was met at the door of his room by his boy, who handed him an envelope, on the back of which Mrs. Martin had written the poem, “God Will Take Care of You,” just as it is sung today. Going immediately to an organ, the tune was composed and written, and, for the first time, sung at the bedside of the sick wife. . . .

Torrey and Alexander, the evangelists, were the first ones to make it popular. Since their day, the words have been translated into many languages and the song has been sung the world over. Mrs. Martin has the song in at least a dozen languages.[2]

In an interview for the Defender Magazine in 1941, she offered a similar account, but cautioned against trusting earlier accounts:

I have been interested in reading various stories of why and how “God Will Take Care of You” was written. Some of the narratives are really fantastic, and not one of them that has come to my notice is true. As a matter of fact, the writing of that song was very simple. I was confined to a sick bed in a Bible school in Lestershire, New York, where my husband was spending seven weeks making a songbook for the president of the institution. The song was written one Sunday afternoon while Dr. Martin went to a preaching appointment. When he returned, I gave the words to him. He immediately sat down to his little Bilhorn organ and wrote the music. That evening, he and two of the teachers sang the completed song.[3]

The account given in The Mennonite could have been embellished, but the basic facts are the same. The songbook and the song were copyrighted by John A. Davis on 25 July 1905. In Songs of Redemption and Praise (1905), it was given as no. 128 in D-flat major. In the revised edition (1906), it was given as no. 5 in C major, which thus lowered the high F in the refrain to a high E, while also conserving horizontal space on the page. In both cases, the song was dedicated to Mrs. John A. Davis (Etta Carr).

An additional stanza beginning “Lonely and sad, from friends apart” appeared as early as 1910 in Alexander’s Gospel Songs No. 2.

 

Fig. 1a. Songs of Redemption and Praise (Chicago: Bilhorn, 1905).

Fig. 1b. Songs of Redemption and Praise, Rev. Ed. (Chicago: Bilhorn, 1906).

 

II. Analysis

Musically, the song generally follows a simple structure of I, IV, and V chords, but the composer has added interest through details like the ninths in the third measure and a few other places, the passing maj7/9 notes in the second word of the refrain, and the III chord at the height of the refrain, which acts not like a secondary dominant to vi, but resolves back to the IV(6) chord. Each stanza includes an interlinear (or inner) refrain in addition to the main refrain. This allows from some unique performance opportunities. Paul Richardson has noted how the use of a soloist might work, in alternation with the refrains:

The congregation would not need to follow the text visually and might be able to listen more carefully for its meaning. Sung quietly in this pattern, the hymn could offer comfort just before or just after a time of petitionary prayer. This pattern could be developed further with more specific prayers—for the sick, the grieving, the anxious, the needy—interspersed between the stanzas. Alternatively, the individual stanzas could be sung in response to scriptural promises of God’s care, such as Deuteronomy 31:8, Psalm 55:22, Psalm 91, Philippians 4:19, and 1 Peter 5:7.[4]

The tune name sometimes has been spelled out in full, GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU, as in The Sanctuary Hymnal (1914), but it has also been called MARTIN as early as 1920 in The School Hymnal (NY: A.S. Barnes, 1920), or GOD CARES, as in the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Broadman, 1956).

Textually, the primary message of the song conveys God’s consistent and reliable care, which is reflected in the Scriptures named by Richardson, in addition to passages such as Matthew 10:29–31 (“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father,” etc.; also Lk. 12:6–7), or Romans 8:38–39 (“[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”). Stanza 1 in particular alludes to Psalm 91:4 (“under his wings you will find refuge,” etc.), while stanza 2 seems to carry the sentiment found in Psalm 23:4 (“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” ESV).

Songs with similar words have preceded this one, including “God will take care of you still to the end” (1890) by Fanny Crosby and Ira Sankey, or “God will take care of you all thro’ the day” (1881) by Frances Havergal, but those others have fallen out of use and have not attained the level of success as this one.

Pastor and writer Robert Cottrill pointed to other places in the Bible where people felt as though God did not care, only to be shown otherwise, such as David hiding from Saul (“No one cares for my soul!” Ps. 142:4), Jesus calming the storm (“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Mk. 4:38), and Martha fretting over Mary (“Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” Lk. 10:40).[5]

Popular devotional writer Kenneth Osbeck summarized the message of the song in this manner:

Do we as Christians trust God for salvation and eternal life yet at times doubt that He will tenderly care for us in our daily li[ves]? We all seem to need reassurance of God’s concern for us in troublesome times. That’s why this hymn has brought comfort and encouragement to so many Christians—it reminds us that the Lord cares deeply for His children. We need not worry no matter how great the task, how difficult the test, how fierce the danger, or how great the need. We can just “lean upon his breast” and be covered by “His wings of love.”[6]

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
30 August 2022

Footnotes:

  1. “Good act of the Practical Bible Training School,” Binghamton Press (21 Apr. 1904), p. 1.

  2. “God Will Take Care of You,” The Mennonite (Berne, IN), vol. 38, no. 45 (15 Nov. 1923), p. 5: Archive.org

  3. Phil Kerr, “Famous Living Hymn Writers,” Defender Magazine, vol. 16, no. 7 (Nov. 1941), p. 24.

  4. Paul A. Richardson, “God Will Take Care of You,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 619.

  5. Robert Cottrill, “God Will Take Care of You,” Wordwise Hymns (21 Mar. 2018): https://wordwisehymns.com/2018/03/21/god-will-take-care-of-you-2/

  6. Kenneth W. Osbeck, “God Will Take Care of You,” Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1990), p. 210.

  7. “Serenade Sankey: Easter Morn Tribute to Blind Evangelist,” The Boston Globe (1 Apr. 1907), p. 3: JPG

Additional Resources:

Cecilia Margaret Rudin, “God Will Take Care of You,” Stories of Hymns We Love (Chicago: John Rudin & Co., 1934), p. 49: Archive.org

William Reynolds, “Be not dimayed whate’er betide,” Hymns of Our Faith (Nashville: Broadman, 1940), p. 22.

C. Michael Hawn, “God Will Take Care of You,” History of Hymns, United Methodist Discipleship Ministries (15 July 2015): https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-god-will-take-care-of-you

“God Will Take Care of You,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/be_not_dismayed_whateer_betide