Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
A hymn with a mysterious history – was it written by a young Sunday school teacher, or a famous poet? Either way, the words of worship for our wonderful Shepherd are wonderful to sing.
Let's do another Friday Classic Hymn! Last week I did a modern classic, 10,000 Reasons. Somebody commented and said you can't call something classic when it's modern - the two terms don't work. I'm going to do some modern music occasionally, but I'll still mostly focus on the old ones, like today's, which dates back almost 200 years.
It's a beautiful song, Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us, although once again, it's one that I didn't know until this week when I started to learn it. I'd love to hear what you think of the song. If you have any stories or recollections of the song, please share those in the comments. What has this song meant to you?
If you're watching this video, maybe it's because you know this beautiful hymn. I really enjoyed learning it this week, so let me tell you more about it. Please subscribe to the channel if you haven't. I've done almost 100 of these by now, so go and check out the catalogue and the other things I do here on this channel.
The Story Behind "Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
This is another hymn that has a little bit of mystery around its origin. It was first published in 1836 in a hymnal called Hymns for the Young, but there was no author's name attached to it, so nobody quite knew where it came from. The editor of this hymnal was a lady named Dorothy Thrupp.
She was born in London in 1779 and she wrote a lot of hymns, especially for children. Many people think that she wrote this song because it has the type of feel of the songs that she later published. When she published her music, she never really used her own name. She would sometimes use the pseudonym Iota, or she would just use initials, or sometimes she would just not use her name at all.
That's why many people think, since she edited this hymnal where it first appeared, it must have been one of her unsigned works. Not much else is known about her except that she died in 1847. But this gets interesting because a few years after she published the song for the first time, another hymnal came out with the song, and in this case there was an author - the name attached to the song was simply Lyte.
Many people think that it was perhaps Henry Lyte who wrote this hymn. He was famous for writing Abide With Me, which is actually the very first Friday Classic video that I did. His is an interesting story. I would encourage you to go and watch that video and really enjoy that song that he wrote.
So there's been this debate amongst historians, scholars and hymnologists about who actually wrote this beautiful song. Was it Dorothy Thrupp under a pseudonym? Was it Henry Lyte? Most scholars have come to the conclusion that it was Thrupp who wrote this hymn. The song has got that children's type of feel to it. It seems to have been a really nice, easy song for children to learn, and if you compare the work to Henry Lyte's poetry, this definitely doesn't have his feel to it.
Regardless of the author, the song became quite popular. By the 1870s, Ira Sankey was using this in his publications and in his tours. Here we are 200 years later and it's still being sung. I heard a beautiful version of this on YouTube which I so enjoyed, and I thought, here we are enjoying this music all these years later. Isn't it beautiful?
The famous melody for this was written by William Bradbury. Bradbury wrote many melodies for songs at that time, and this has got a typical Bradbury melody. It really is just like a lot of other stuff he wrote.
Why is this such a popular song, even all these years later? Let's have a look at the words that Thrupp probably wrote.
What Do the Lyrics of "Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us" Mean?
Verse 1
Saviour like a shepherd lead us.
Of course, Jesus is our Shepherd. "The Lord is my Shepherd," Psalm 23 says. Jesus Himself said, "I am the good shepherd, my sheep know my name." The Christian life is often compared to sheep following a shepherd. Even Psalm 23 talks about how He leads us. He leads us along paths of righteousness.
God is our Shepherd. Jesus was upset that the people seemed to Him to be sheep without a shepherd, which is a callback to a prophecy about Jesus from Isaiah 53. This type of language is all over Scripture, so it's very fitting for this hymn.
Much we need thy tender care.
Of course, God is a tender Shepherd, loving and caring for us, and we need it so much.
In thy pleasant pastures feed us.
This is a beautiful line. God feeds us in His pastures - pleasant pastures. Psalm 23 talks about how God leads us beside the quiet waters and in the green pastures. As His sheep we are in pleasant, wonderful places as He nourishes us spiritually.
For our use thy folds prepare.
The fold is like the sheepfold - the pen where the sheep are kept. He has prepared a place for us to be safe, to be cared for and to be loved by Him. Of course, Jesus also said, "I have sheep who are not of this fold," and most people believe that He was talking to Jewish people and saying, "Well, there are also sheep in the Gentile world who will come into the kingdom."
Whether you're Jewish or Gentile, you are now in the kingdom if you believe in Jesus. You're in the fold.
The first chorus goes like this:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us - thine we are.
We sing that twice. Blessed means wonderful, means amazing, worthy, lovely. He is the Blessed One, isn't He? We worship Him for that, and He has bought us. We are His. He has purchased us by the cross. He gave Himself for us on the cross, the Shepherd laying down His life for His sheep by giving Himself up and buying back our forgiveness with His own life. Wonderful.
Remember, you were bought with a price. According to Scripture, Jesus' death on the cross was not just about His death. He was buying your redemption when He did it - as the sheep that you are to Him, the precious sheep that He loves.
Verse 2
We are thine - do thou befriend us.
He's not just a Shepherd, but He is a friend to us. Jesus Himself said, "I no longer call you servants, I call you friends." We are His. We are His friends if we are in His kingdom and in His pen - in His fold. That's a wonderful thought.
Be the guardian of our way.
There's this tension in our lives between God being immanent and close and relatable, but at the same time, He's huge and massive and enormous. Yeah, He's our friend, but He's the guardian of our way. He watches over our way at the same time. It's beautiful.
Do you know God in both of these ways - great and mighty and awesome, the guardian of our way watching over you, but also your friend walking with you?
Keep thy flock from sin, defend us, seek us when we go astray.
Defend us from sin. We pray something similar in the Lord's Prayer, don't we? "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Do you pray every day, "Lord, keep me from sin. Keep me from doing anything that dishonours You"? God is able to keep us and to make us blameless, as Scripture often says.
But seek us when we go astray. Even the holiest of the holy stray. It may not be wilful sin, but it may be faults or mistakes that dishonour God, and He seeks us. If we go astray, He seeks us. Again, this calls back to mind the sheep language, because Jesus spoke about the lost sheep - He'll leave the 99 to go fetch the one that is lost. That's grace that goes beyond your understanding of His love.
Even if we do go astray and we've known it and we've wilfully left Him, He still seeks us to bring us back into the fold.
The chorus:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear thy children when we pray.
We pray. Even if we've gone astray, we need to pray and find our way back as we call out to Him. We have a great confidence that He hears us when we pray. He listens and draws us near to Himself as we pray.
Verse 3
Thou hast promised to receive us.
All who come to God repentant and humble are saved. All who call on the name of the Lord are saved according to Scripture. God will receive you. He promised it if you come to Him.
Poor and sinful though we be.
He'll receive you, even though you are poor and sinful. Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so says the Scripture. Once you've realised that you're poor and sinful, you come humble, and yet He still receives you.
You don't need to sort yourself out before you come to God. You come to Him so that He can sort you out and change your life.
Thou hast mercy to relieve us, grace to cleanse, and power to free.
I love this. What is the relieving, the merciful relieving that God provides? It's grace that cleanses and power that frees. This type of thinking I see a lot in the hymns, and I don't see that much in modern music, which has made me think about writing some of my own stuff which has got both of these elements.
Grace that forgives us - all Christians love to talk about the grace that cleanses. But power to free us from sin and from evil and to make us holy - we don't hear a lot about that in our modern music. He has mercy to do both. Of course, being in the Wesleyan tradition, this is central to our thinking - God wants to forgive you, but He also wants to fill you and make you holy. It has to be both if you're going to be a real follower of Christ.
Do you know that His mercy is not just to forgive you, but it's to free you and to empower you to live a holy life? Yes, that's what Jesus has done for us. He's enabled us to do both of these things, to be cleansed and to be freed.
The chorus:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, early let us turn to thee.
This is actually preparing us for the next verse, which says something similar about early turning to Him. In one sense, it might talk about early in your years - in the days of your youth turn to Him. On the other hand, maybe this is talking about once you've realised that you need Him, go to Him quickly - early in that sense of not delaying, but getting to Him as quickly as you can.
What do you think? What does that line mean - "Early let us turn to Thee"? For me, it just means get to God quickly. If you have strayed or messed up - or does it mean early in the morning, first thing in the day, let us turn to God early in the morning?
Verse 4
Verse four says something similar, so maybe this will give us some idea.
Early let us seek thy favour, early let us do thy will.
Maybe it is early in the day. Every day, first thing, seek His favour, do His will in the morning. There's a beautiful Psalm 5 which talks about "in the morning I will seek Thee." Are you seeking God in the morning?
Or if we have a different interpretation, are we quickly going to Him and not delaying?
Blessed Lord and only Saviour, with thy love our bosoms fill.
Beautiful words about how He's the only Saviour. This reminds me of Acts 4 where Peter says, "Salvation is found in no one else. There's no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." Jesus Himself, of course, said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." We believe that He is the only Saviour, and if you want to know God the Father, you have to come through the Son, and He will fill our souls.
Our bosoms being our souls in this case - old language, we wouldn't use it today in our songs - but basically our hearts will be filled with His love if we have come to the only Lord and Saviour.
The last line:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast loved us, love us still.
He has loved us, and He will continue to love us. We can trust in that.
Conclusion
What a beautiful song. Has something really stood out for you as you've worked through these words with me? A particular line or particular verse? For me, I think getting to grips with "early, early let us seek Thy favour, early let us do Thy will" - first thing in the morning, get your soul happy in God. As George Müller used to say, get your soul happy in God, go straight to God and connect with Him in the morning. Do His will and seek His favour.
What a beautiful song. Blessed Jesus. He is our Saviour and He leads us like a shepherd.
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It enables me to spend the day in the studio doing this so that I can then go back to my church the rest of the week and care for the community that way. So thank you very much for that.
References
Osbeck, K. Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. https://books.google.co.za/books?id=mPqN_R-waqUC&pg=PA77&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Morgan, RJ. Near to the Heart of God: Meditations on 366 Best-Loved Hymns. https://books.google.co.za/books?id=g5JzBQAAQBAJ&dq=Savior,+like+a+Shepherd+Lead+Us&pg=PA180&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Savior%2C%20like%20a%20Shepherd%20Lead%20Us&f=false
Hymnary.org. Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us. https://hymnary.org/text/savior_like_a_shepherd_lead_us
United Methodist Church. History of Hymns: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us. https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-savior-like-a-shepherd-lead-us
