Sweet Hour of Prayer

lyrics by william walford, music by william b. bradbury

Sweet Hour of Prayer Lyrics

 

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

 

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

 

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

 

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”

 

 

Sweet Hour of Prayer Guitar Chords

 

C                           F                       

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

     C          G7 C G     C  G                          

That calls me from a world of care,

    C             F                                 

And bids me at my Father’s throne

     C         G7 C   C/G G7 C                            

Make all my wants and wishes known.
       G7  C/E F  C                                      

In seasons of  distress and grief,

        G7  C/E F   C       G                               

My soul has of- ten found relief

    C               F                               

And oft escaped the tempter’s snare

   C       G7  C     C/G  G7 C           

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

 

Scripture References

  • Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
  • Colossians 4:2 - Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 
  • James 5:16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
  • Romans 12:12 - Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
  • Deuteronomy 34:1 - Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land...

The Story

 

In 1845, British minister Reverend Thomas Salmon sent the lyrics to this hymn to the popular newspaper The New York Observer with the following note:

During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted with W. W. Walford, the blind preacher, a man of obscure birth and connections and no education, but of strong mind and most retentive memory. In the pulpit he never failed to select a lesson well adapted to his subject, giving chapter and verse with unerring precision and scarcely ever misplacing a word in his repetition of the Psalms, every part of the New Testament, the prophecies, and some of the histories, so as to have the reputation of "knowing the whole Bible by heart.

 

He actually sat in the chimney corner, employing his mind in composing a sermon or two for Sabbath delivery, and his hands in cutting, shaping and polishing bones for shoe horns and other little useful implements. At intervals he attempted poetry. On one occasion, paying him a visit, he repeated two or three pieces which he had composed, and having no friend at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the storehouse within. "How will this do?" asked he, as he repeated the following lines, with a complacent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he subject himself to criticism. I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil, as he uttered them, and sent them for insertion in the Observer, if you should think them worthy of preservation.

 

Happily, the Observer did think the words to "Sweet Hour of Prayer" worth of preservation and printed them in their September 13, 1845 edition. It wasn't until years later in 1861 that composer William Bradbury wrote the tune to the hymn, and it wasn't until 15 years after that the hymn was first published in a Methodist hymnal. Reverend Salmon passed away in 1852, well before this, and despite attempts to track him down, no one ever found the blind preacher named W.W. Walford that the Reverend spoke of. Chances are neither of them would ever know how popular this poem would become.

 

Years ago when I was a young kid working at AT&T, I remember the then-CEO Bob Allen was coming to visit our little office in New Jersey. My boss and her boss and her boss's boss, and her boss's boss's boss all became extremely nervous. We had to thoroughly clean the office top to bottom weeks before the CEO's arrival. Certain people were selected to speak to the CEO if the opportunity were to come up. Everyone was told to dress a certain way and even were told what they could and couldn't have on their desks.

 

The big day finally came. Bob Allen and his entourage walked by. I saw a brief glimpse of him. And then it was over.

 

I just remember chuckling to myself of how silly it was for everyone to get so worked up about seeing this man and having the "honor" of being in his presence for 2 minutes. And yet we find it a chore to get on our knees for 2 minutes to have a one-on-one conversation with the creator of the universe.

 

I think this is where this hymn really hits home for me. Prayer really shouldn't be a chore or a thing to check off a list. It's a great honor and privilege where we should feel joy in communicating with our Creator and yearn to do so again each day.

 

 

YouTube Videos

 

 

Your Comments