Luther Bridgers was born in North Carolina in 1884. His father was a traveling evangelist and often brought Luther with him to revival meetings. Born into a strong faith, which became his own faith, Luther began preaching at age 17. He attended Asbury College in Kentucky, and developed his own reputation as a pastor/evangelist/church planter. He married a godly woman named Sarah, the couple moved to Georgia, and Sarah bore him three sons.
By age 26, the Bridgers family was prospering. Invitations to conduct revival meetings were plentiful, and when an invitation came to conduct two weeks of services near Lexington, Kentucky, where they both had grown up. They made plans to travel as a family, with the intent of Sarah and the boys staying with her parents while Luther ministered.
The first week of the revival was very fruitful. Christians were encouraged and people were saved. In the middle of the second week, Luther was awakened in the middle of the night by a policeman at the door. Hat in hand, and trying to control his emotions, the policeman informed him that Sarah and their sons had perished in a devastating fire earlier that evening.
Luther was understandably devastated at the news. He felt he could not go on preaching, and in the following months was even depressed to the point of considering suicide.
As he worked through his grief over a period of months, God brought a Bible verse to his mind. Psalm 77:6, “I will remember my song in the night…”. As he pondered this verse, words and melody flowed from him, in a song he called “Sweetest Name”:
There’s within my heart a melody. Jesus whispers sweet and low.
“Fear not, I am with thee; peace, be still.” In all of life’s ebb and flow.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
Al my life was wrecked by sin and strife; Discord filled my heart with pain.
Jesus swept across the broken strings, Stirred the slumb’ring
chords again.
(When people asked him later how he could go on, he
answered with this verse)
Feasting on the riches of His grace, Resting ‘neath His
sheltering wings.
Always looking on His smiling face, That is why I shout
and sing.
Tho’ sometimes He leads thru waters deep, Trials fall
across my way.
Tho’ sometimes the path seems rough and steep, See his
footprints all the way.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me. Far beyond the starry sky.
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown; I shall reign with
Him on high.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
Luther Bridgers remarried and spent his remaining 38 years of life in ministry: evangelism, missions, and pastorate. He died in Atlanta in 1948.
Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishers,
2003.
https://enjoyingthejourney.org/hymn-history-he-keeps-me-singing/
