His Eye is on the Sparrow

I’m sure I am not the only one to have a bird build a nest and take up residence on or near your front door. Peeking into the nest I saw these beautiful little eggs and immediately thought of the old hymn, His Eye is on the Sparrow.

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His Eye is on the Sparrow

This song was originally written in 1905 by lyricist, Civilla Durfee Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel.

About the writer of the hymn, His Eye is on the Sparrow

Civilla Durfee Martin was born in Nova Scotia in 1866 and spent most of her life in Atlanta, GA where she died in 1948. She was the daughter of James N. and Irene Harding Holden, and was a schoolteacher with modest musical training. Together with her husband, Walter (1862-1935), they often wrote gospel songs for revival meetings.  

After writing the lyrics to this song, Civilla mailed them to Charles Gabriel, who worked for a gospel music publisher in Chicago, who then wrote a tune for it.

The theme of His Eye is on the Sparrow

The theme of the song is inspired by the words of David in the Psalms and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible.

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Psalm 32:8)

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:26

Civilla shares an account of this story in 1916…

It was written at the bedside of a bedridden saint in the city of Elmira, N.Y. Early in the spring of 1905, my hus­band and I were so­journ­ing there. We con­tract­ed a deep friend­ship for a cou­ple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doo­lit­tle—true saints of God.

Mrs. Doo­lit­tle had been bed­rid­den for nigh twen­ty years. Her hus­band was an in­cur­a­ble crip­ple who had to pro­pel him­self to and from his bus­i­ness in a wheel chair.

De­spite their af­flict­ions, they lived hap­py Christ­ian lives, bring­ing in­spir­a­tion and com­fort to all who knew them.

One day while we were vi­sit­ing with the Doo­lit­tles, my hus­band com­ment­ed on their bright hope­ful­ness and asked them for the se­cret of it.

Mrs. Doo­lit­tle’s re­ply was sim­ple: “His eye is on the spar­row, and I know He watch­es me.”

The beau­ty of this sim­ple ex­press­ion of bound­less faith gripped the hearts and fired the imag­in­a­tion of Dr. Mar­tin and me. The hymn “His Eye Is on the Spar­row” was the out­come of that ex­per­i­ence. – Civilla Martin

Additional Scripture that inspired His Eye is on the Sparrow is from Matthew 6:26 – 31.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

 
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His Eye is on the Sparrow – The Wissmann Family 

Artists that have recorded this song 

His is Eye is on the Sparrow is most associated with actress-singer Ethel Waters who used the title for her autobiography.

Mahalia Jackson’s recording of the song was honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2010. 

Whitney Houston recorded a version for the soundtrack of the 2012 remake of the 1976 musical film Sparkle. RCA Records released the song as the second single from the album on June 8, 2012, four months after Houston’s death. This version is Houston’s last original single, and second posthumous one. 

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