Count Your Blessings

I was raised in a hymn‑singing church. My earliest childhood memories are the words and melodies of the anthems sung on Sunday mornings and evenings. One old hymn that sticks to my heart like a Velcro fastener is titled Count Your Blessings.

This hymn talks about the many trials that we as Christians face in this life, it also challenges us, in the midst of trials, to stop and count our blessings. In my mind’s eye, I see a yellow legal pad before me and a pencil in my hand. Starting at the top of the page, I begin to write down the blessings that the Lord has poured out upon me. I am led in this exercise by the chorus of the song:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God has done!

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Let me share with you the story of a man who, in the midst of suffering and trials, found the ability to write a wonderful song of thanksgiving and praise—thanksgiving and praise for God’s blessing on his life.

One of the most destructive conflicts in European history was the Thirty Years’ War, fought between 1618 and 1648. By 1637 all of the pastors of Eilenberg, Germany, had either abandoned the city or died of disease, leaving a Lutheran deacon named Martin Rinkart to care for the spiritual needs of the city. In the ensuing years, he performed 4,480 funerals, including the funeral of his own wife. In 1637 alone, 5,000 people died of starvation and disease in Eilenberg, at which time Rinkart was officiating over 40–50 funerals a day.

Rinkart was a prolific writer of poems and hymns. In the midst of this great privation and suffering, he wrote a hymn that reveals the faith of this man of God and his ability to count his blessings, whether on the mountaintop or in the deepest valleys.

Now Thank We All Our God

Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things hath done, in whom His world rejoices,

Who from our mother’s arms hath blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us,

And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed,

And free us from all ills in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God, the Father now be given,

The Son and Holy Ghost, with Him in highest heaven;

The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

I don’t know what kind of trials you are facing today, but in the words of Contemporary Christian Music artist Evie Tornquist:

“Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus

Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys.

Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus

And He will turn your sorrows into joy.”

In keeping with this theme, I close with a verse from Count Your Blessings:

“So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.”

1. Count Your Blessings, Johnson Oatman Jr., 1879

2. Now Thank We All Our God, Martin Rinkart

3. Give Them All to Jesus, Evie Tornquist, 1980