Count Your Blessings

When I consider my childhood, some songs stick out more than others. We would not just sing this hymn around November during the Thanksgiving season, we would sing this song throughout the year – Count Your Blessings. It is appropriate for a follower of Christ to sing about the blessings of God at any time – especially during hard seasons. As discussed in an earlier blog, essentially, Count Your Blessings is a gratitude list. Plus, this hymn is fun to sing.

Below you will find the lyrics, read a bit about the theology of the hymn, the story of the author, and be able to hear several renditions of this old, beautiful hymn. Sing along, if you like, and rejoice in the opportunity to join in with Count Your Blessings.

Count Your Blessings Lyrics

The Theology

This hymn implores us as followers of Jesus Christ to count our many blessings. It says to “name them one by one.” Yes! Here, we are encouraged to create a gratitude list of all that God has done for us – especially spiritually and in the future. Consider these key phrases:

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Friends, when we consider what God has done for us, we are blessed. Here are a list of verses that encourage us to do the same.

Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered. (Psalm 40:5)

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits: (Psalm 103:2)

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men! (Psalm 107:31)

All of Psalm 136

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Eph 1:3)

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:18)

 

The Author

Johnson Oatman, Jr., author

Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922) was born near Medford, N. J., April 21, 1856. His father was an excellent singer, and it always delighted the son to sit by his side and hear him sing the songs of the church. At age 19, he was granted a license to preach by his church and was later ordained. He wrote over three thousand hymns, and, in his day, no gospel song book was considered as being complete unless it contained some of his hymns. [1]

 

Enjoy This Media

Some groups singing the song from YouTube:

Here is the Guy Penrod from the Gaither Homecoming crew singing the hymn.

Traditional congregational singing.

 

Here is the earliest published copy from Songs of Triumph No.s 1 and 2 Combined: 201 choice new hymns for choirs, solo singers, the home circle, etc. #2 from 1890 [4]:

Here is a more modern version from my childhood hymnbook Favorite Hymns of Praise #200 [6]:

 

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