Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

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Have you ever needed something steady to hold onto when everything around you was shaking? "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" might be the quietest anthem of faith ever written—not making a grand entrance, but showing up faithfully when your strength doesn't.

Unlike hymns of triumph and majesty, this beloved gospel song speaks to our deepest vulnerabilities. Born from real heartbreak when composer Anthony J. Showalter responded to two former students who had lost their wives, the hymn transforms the promise of Deuteronomy 33:27 into a melody of comfort: "The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

What makes this hymn extraordinary is how it's transcended its origins to become part of our cultural fabric. From Mahalia Jackson to Alan Jackson, from The Night of the Hunter to True Grit, these simple lyrics about divine support have resonated even in secular spaces. Yet behind its cultural reach lies theological depth wrapped in the simplest language—fellowship that brings joy, a pilgrim journey made sweeter by divine companionship, and freedom from fear not because life is safe, but because God is good and walks with us.

Whatever wilderness you're walking through right now, this episode invites you to lean in—to the arms that never weaken, the promises that never fade, and the fellowship that never lets go. Join us as we discover why, generation after generation, believers have found such comfort in these simple words: "safe and secure from all alarms."

SHOW NOTES:

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms performed by Nathan Drake of Reawaken Hymns from the album Hymns of the Father from The Trinity Project.

To purchase the digital album and any or all of the amazing Reawaken Hymns worship resources for Hymns of the Father.

Lyric videos, chord charts, sheet music available for "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” can be found on Reawaken Hymns.

Acoustic version of this hymn also available from Reawaken Hymns.

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All songs used by permission.