- "I know the Lord will find a way for me; I know the Lord will find a way for me; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
- "The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world;' If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me.
- "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'; If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His work, but also a hymn that teaches us about our dependence on God as well as His willingness to bless.
All the information I have found on authorship simply indicates that this is a traditional folk hymn/melody (at least Praise for the Lord indicates it to have been arranged by Palmer E. Wheeler). If any other information is available, please forward it to me so I can update this commentary at a later time.
This hymn has just a few recurring lyrics throughout, so rather than displaying the lyrics in outline form, I will comment on each phrase:
- "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
- Besides being the title to the song, it introduces the first verse (being sung twice) and concludes the first and second verses.
- A question that has come up about this song could be phrased, "The Lord will find a way for me to what end? What way is He going to find for me?"
- A brother and I have had discussions on this and we've narrowed it down to possibly meaning one of the following:
- "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to heaven.
- "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to escape temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- Hopefully we can flesh that out better as we study the remaining phrases from this song and we'll revisit this phrase towards the end of this commentary.
- "The Lord has said, 'Go preach the Word to all the world.'"
- We know THIS is true, it is well documented (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8).
- This phrase introduces the second verse and is sung two times in a row.
- "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
- This phrase introduces the third verse (sung twice) and closes it as well.
- This is an allusion to Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25 (and the minas in Luke 19).
- In both accounts, a ruler distributes his wealth to some of his stewards while he goes away on some other business.
- When he returns, he settles accounts with them.
- There are some stewards who return not only the original wealth with which they were entrusted but additional wealth which they had procured using his money. To them, he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
- But in both accounts, there is one steward who is fearful of his master, but only so much so that he hides the money entrusted to him (in one account, he buries the talent in the ground; in the other, he hides the mina in a napkin[!]). Also in both accounts, the master refers to him as a wicked servant, withdraws the funds entrusted to him and gives them to the servant who had gained the most for the master. And in Matthew's account, that "wicked and lazy servant" is ordered to be "cast...into outer darkness" where "[t]here will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"!
- Interestingly enough, Matthew's writings go further as Jesus describes what is going to happen at "the end of the age". He describes a scene where the "sheep" and the "goats" have been separated, one group on the right, the other on the left. To those sheep on the right, He will say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world[!]"
- All of these accounts bear witness that it will be grand to hear Him say, "Well done"!
- "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
- Let's take that apart piece by piece:
- "If I walk in heaven's light...." There are many passages of scripture that refer to this:
- John 8:12, where Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
- Paul has some interesting points about this in his letter to the Ephesians: "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible" (Ephesians 5:8-13).
- John in his first letter also brings up an exceptional point about the reward we have of walking in the light: "[I]f we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:8).
- "Shun the wrong and do the right,": "shun the wrong" can be rephrased as "turn away from evil."
- David tells us in the 37th Psalm, "Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever" (Psalm 37:27,28).
- King Solomon has some good things to say about turning from evil:
- Only a fool would avoid turning from evil (Proverbs 13:19; 14:16).
- One turns away from evil by fearing the Lord (Proverbs 16:6).
- Peter even quotes David from another Psalm: "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking
deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good ["shun the wrong and do the right"!]; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:10-12; Psalm 34:12-16).
- Therefore, we know it is good to "walk in heaven's light" (where we will be seeking to please the Lord AND be cleansed from sin) as well as to turn away from evil and do good.
- "I know the Lord will find a way for me."
- Another problem I have with this phrase is that it seems to limit God. There is not a rogue particle in this universe that the Lord does not know about, and nothing that can take Him by surprise. So, although it sounds like we have confidence in Him that He "will find a way for me," what is He searching for? What is it He cannot find yet?
- Therefore, I would propose that when the song is sung, the following changes should be considered:
- "I know the Lord has made the way for me" [to be saved and go to heaven].
- "I know the Lord will make the way for me" [to escape temptation].
- This brings us back to the question with which we began this commentary: a way for what?
- The first two verses give this as a condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will find a way for me."
- Side note: "[preaching] the Word to all the world" is a command by the Lord as the second verse says. And if we seek to please Him, as we do by walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8,10), then we will keep His commands (John 14:15, 21).
- Therefore, by preaching the Word, we are walking in the light and doing right.
- In the third verse, besides asking the rhetorical question, it answers by giving a similar condition: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right, Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
- We are given two statements of conditional probability: if A, then B. if A, then C.
- A: "If I walk in heaven's light, Shun the wrong and do the right,"
- B: "I know the Lord will find a way for me"
- C: "Won't it be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'" [I will receive my reward!]
- Taking it logically, if A then B (A -> B) and if A then C (A -> C), then B must be C. Therefore, "the Lord will find a way" for me to go to heaven (to be saved) where it will "be grand to hear Him say, 'Well done'."
- Therefore, I posit that this song says "I know the Lord will find a way for me" to be saved and go to my reward in heaven!
As I have stated before, however, the phrasing makes it sound like the Lord is actively searching for a way for me to be saved and join Him in heaven. That way has been provided through Jesus and what He did on the cross. As there is salvation found in no other name than Christ's (Acts 4:8-12, emphasis on verse 12), God is not looking for any other way for us to be saved!
As such, I recommend that when this song is sung, it would behoove us to reword the main phrase and title of the song to say, "I know the Lord has made the way for me." Even if one takes the position of the brother whom I mentioned earlier, who believes this refers to being provided with a way of escape from temptation, I would venture that, since time is nothing to the Almighty (2 Peter 3:8), who's to say that the means of escape wasn't already made (or known about ahead of time) by Him?
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments on this....
--bas4d
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