Showers of Blessing

On the surface, these could have been the darkest developments in the life of Daniel Whittle. Serving in the Northern army during the American Civil War, he lost his right arm in battle. Then he became a prisoner of war. But these became important turning points that led to a transforming experience with Jesus.

While in prison, another captured soldier, who was seriously wounded, noticed that Whittle was reading a New Testament. When the man asked Whittle to pray with him, he was reluctant, since he had not committed his life to Christ. But he finally agreed. Confessing his sins, Whittle asked Christ to forgive him.

Soon after praying for Whittle, the man died. Yet God had used the dying soldier to bring Whittle to salvation.

Whittle seemed to reflect on that transformation in many of the hymns he later wrote. He also hungered after a greater move of God. In 1883, he published a hymn called “Showers of Blessing,” describing his hope that God would send a “precious reviving” on His people. They needed a spiritual refreshing that only God could bring.

Whittle was confident that God would send “abundance of rain” on the land. He had faith that God would honor His Word. Just as Whittle had done in his own life, he knew that this was a time for “confessing, now as on Jesus we call.”

Some might have doubted that God could answer such a prayer, but Whittle believed that “if we but trust and obey; there shall be seasons refreshing, if we let God have His way.”

Today, as in Whittle’s time, we need revival, a fresh move of God. In your life, pray for revival. Ask the Lord for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a mighty outpouring of His blessings.