He Walks with God

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

He walks with God who speaks to God in prayer
And daily brings to Him his daily care;
Possessing inward peace, he truly knows
A heart’s refreshment and a soul’s repose.

He walks with God who, as he onward moves,
Follows the footsteps of the Lord he loves,
And keeping Him forever in his view,
His Saviour sees and His example, too.

He walks with God who turns his face to Heaven
And keeps the blest commands by Jesus given;
His life upright, his end untroubled peace,
Whom God will crown when all his labours cease.

Little is known about the author of this peaceful hymn, which brings a sense of the calm and steadiness of a daily life devoted to the Lord. Dorothy Ann Thrupp lived in Middlesex, England, from 1779 to 1847. She was the daughter of Joseph Thrupp, of Paddington Green. Her original words have been slightly altered in this version, as printed in The Song Book of The Salvation Army . Sadly, it does not appear in any other current hymnals, although Dorothy Ann Thrupp was not a Salvationist, having lived and died before TSA came into being! One wonders which inspired Salvationist discovered the hymn and ensured its use to bless others! It has been in our Song Books since at least 1931.

Ms Thrupp contributed hymns to four different publications for children. One of these was Hymns for the Young , of which she was the editor. Some of her songs appeared anonymously, some with the initials ‘D.A.T.’, and others under the nom-de-plume ‘Iota’. In 1836 and 1837 she published a booklet called Thoughts for the Day .