Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

LSB #716 "I Walk in Danger All the Way"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Peter 5:8-9; John 10:4, 27-29; John 6:39; Isaiah 51:11

1 Peter 5:8-9:  "8 Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

John 10:4:  "'When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.'"

John 10:27-29:  "'27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.'"

John 6:39:  "'And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.'"

Isaiah 51:11:  "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

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The text is public domain:
1 I walk in danger all the way.
The thought shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey,
Is plotting to deceive me.
This foe with hidden snares
May seize me unawares
If I should fail to watch and pray.
I walk in danger all the way.

2 I pass through trials all the way,
With sin and ills contending;
In patience I must bear each day
The cross of God's own sending.
When in adversity
I know not where to flee,
When storms of woe my soul dismay,
I pass through trials all the way.

3 And death pursues me all the way,
Nowhere I rest securely;
He comes by night, he comes by day,
He takes his prey most surely.
A failing breath, and I
In death's strong grasp may lie
To face eternity today
As death pursues me all the way.

4 I walk with angels all the way,
They shield me and befriend me;
All Satan's pow'r is held at bay
When heav'nly hosts attend me;
They are my sure defense,
All fear and sorrow, hence!
Unharmed by foes, do what they may,
I walk with angels all the way.

5 I walk with Jesus all the way,
His guidance never fails me;
Within His wounds I find a stay
When Satan's pow'r assails me;
And by His footsteps led,
My path I safely tread.
No evil leads my soul astray;
I walk with Jesus all the way.

6 My walk is heav'nward all the way;
Await, my soul, the morrow,
When God's good healing shall allay
All suff'ring, sin, and sorrow.
Then, worldly pomp, begone!
To heav'n I now press on.
For all the world I would not stay;
My walk is heav'nward all the way.
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1 Peter 5:8-9 appears in the first verse, particularly in the lines "That Satan, who has marked his prey, / Is plotting to deceive me."

The two passages from John 10 appear in the fifth verse, and John 6:39 could be cited for either the fifth verse ("No evil leads my soul astray") or the sixth verse ("For all the world I would not stay; / My walk is heav'nward all the way").

Isaiah 51:11 (specifically "sorrow and sighing shall flee away") appears in the sixth verse ("When God's good healing shall allay / All suff'ring, sin, and sorrow").

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The lines "In patience I must bear each day / The cross of God's own sending" in the second verse refer to Matthew 10:38 ("'And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.'"), 16:24 ("Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"), and Luke 9:23 ("And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'").

The fourth verse ("I walk with angels all the way...") seems to be drawn from Psalm 91:11:  "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."

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The line "He comes by night, he comes by day" in the third verse contains a temporal merism ("by night... by day").

In each verse, the first line is repeated as the last line, and this illustrates the entirety of "all the way."