I Walk in Danger All the Way

Beginning this month at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Marion, Iowa, we will sing a "Hymn of the Month" each month, at least for a while, This selection will often be a new hymn to us—sometimes a new text, sometimes a new tune, and sometimes both. Though sometimes they may be difficult to sing or unfamiliar to our ears, they are, indeed, worth your time to learn. And since you may be unfamiliar with the text or tune, I wanted you to have an opportunity to become familiar with it before we sing it this coming Sunday. 

Our hymn for the month of October is "I Walk in Danger All the Way," hymn 716 in Lutheran Service Book. It is a hymn from the 18th Century, written by Lutheran pastor and bishop Hans Adolph Brorson. The hymn is comprised of two parts. The first three stanzas focus on the threats we Christians face from sin, death, and Satan. The truth that the life of the Christian is a life where we "pass through trials all the way" and bear our crosses as our Lord bids us do. We are forced to come face to face with our own mortality, with death stalking us like we are his prey. The concluding three stanzas show how our Lord provides for our protection and deliverance from these fearsome foes. Angel hosts accompany us on our journey along the narrow way of our life in Christ. Because we are baptized children of our heavenly Father, we "walk with Jesus all the way" throughout our lives, until, finally, we come to our heavenly goal. 

This is a beautiful text which describes our life in Christ, both in the hardships we face because the world hates us as much as it hates our Lord Jesus, or the triumph which is already ours now and which will be perfected at the Last Day. God grant you great comfort and joy in your walk with Jesus with this song on your lips!

Here is the text:

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.

To hear me read the text of this beautiful hymn, watch this video. 

To hear the music and words of this hymn together, click this link.