The Lord Will Provide

an old hymn set to a haunting tune.

For a few years in my early 20s, I attended Redeemer Indy and was deeply formed by the worship led by Nathan Partain. I was introduced to Newton’s hymn “The Lord Will Provide” by way of congregational singing and was immediately captivated by the language of the hymn and the haunting tune Nathan set it to.

I love how this hymn tells a mini-story in each verse, and then closes each verse with the refrain “The Lord Will Provide.” Newton wrote his hymns for the congregation he ministered to, with an aim of impressing “divine truths better upon their memory and hearts.”¹ If that’s his aim, he hits the mark with this one. The Lord will provide… it’s a simple truth that goes deeper and deeper the more we sit with it.

Nathan Partain beautifully reworked this hymn of Newton’s for that congregation I worshiped with at the corner of 16th and Delaware in Indianapolis. I particularly love the call-response chorus he added, and I often find myself falling back on those words when I’m doubting God’s provision or overwhelmed. You can download the song and read about Nathan’s writing process here.

From Hymnary

Listen to Nathan’s rendering of the song below and sink into this work of Newton’s. Maybe this hymn will impress on the whole of your self the unchanging truth that the Lord will provide.

The Lord Will Provide by John Newton

This is the original text from Hymnary, and does not include Nathan’s chorus and other changes (he flips the order first and second verses). You can find Nathan’s arrangement here.

Tho’ troubles assail, and dangers affright,
Tho’ friends should all fail, and foes all unite;
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The promise assures us, The Lord will provide.

The birds without barn and storehouse are fed;
From them let us learn to trust for our bread:
His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be deny’d,
So long as it’s written, The Lord will provide.

We may, like the ships, by tempests be tost
On perilous deeps, but need not be lost:
Tho’ Satan enrages the wind and the tide,
Yet scripture engages, The Lord will provide.

His call we’ll obey, like Abra’m of old;
We know not the way, but faith makes us bold;
For tho’ we are strangers, we have a good guide,
And trust in all dangers, The Lord will provide.

When Satan appears to stop up our path,
And fills us with fears, we triumph by faith:
He cannot take from us (tho’ oft he has try’d)
The heart-cheering promise, The Lord will provide.

He tells us we’re weak, our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek, we ne’er shall obtain;
But when such suggestions our graces have try’d
This answers all questions, The Lord will provide.

No strength of our own, nor goodness we claim,
Our trust is all thrown on Jesus’s name;
In this our strong tower for safety we hide;
The Lord is our power, The Lord will provide.

When life sinks apace, and death is in view,
The word of his grace shall comfort us through;
Not fearing nor doubting with Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting, The Lord will provide.

1. Quoted in Josiah Bull, John Newton of Olney and St. Mary Woolnoth: An Autobiography and Narrative, 1868.