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His Eye is on the Sparrow

By Lorraine

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.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.

 

Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We will only recommend products we use, love or think are informative and helpful.

 

Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally posted October 2009 with better photos and additional information.

 
~Sketch of a sparrow by my daughter, Abbey~
 
To listen to a lovely version of this favorite hymn, scroll to the bottom of this post.
 

His Eye is on the Sparrow

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

 

Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart feel lonely?
And long for heaven and home
 
When Jesus is my portion
A constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me
His eye is on the sparrow
and I know He over watches me
His eye is on the sparrow
and I know He watches me
 
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me (He watches me)
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches (I know He watches)
I know He watches me
 
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me (He watches me)
His eye is on the sparrow
I know, He watches me
He watches me
He watches me
I know
He watches me.

 

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. 

 

His Eye is on the sparrow eggs in nest

 

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Even WhenWho doesn't, at least occasionally, hit hard spots. Some resolve quickly. Other times we find ourselves in the valley of the shadows. Even When is a beautiful song by Micah Tyler that brings encouragement to fight the good fight. Knowing God is with us through it all and God is with us even then.

 

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Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: Abbey, Bible, bird, Encouragement, Faith, sparrow

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    November 2, 2009 at 12:34 am

    This is my first visit. The whole website is so beautiful and uplifting. Your Scripture verses give me hope. Thank you for sharing your spirit with me. I don't feel so alone tonight. God Bless you and your beautiful family. Janet

    Reply
  2. Christy says

    October 20, 2009 at 12:17 am

    I love that song too. Thanks for posting the story behind it!

    Reply
  3. Karen says

    October 19, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    When I read the stories behind the songs, they always mean so much more. Thank you. That is a very inspiring story and song.

    Reply
  4. Lady Farmer says

    October 19, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    Abbey's art is beautiful!
    Thank you for the background on one of my favorite hymns! My girls, when they were small, would climb into an apple tree and sing it just as sweetly as any sparrow!
    Thank you for sharing this beautiful message about our Father's care for us.
    Blessings!
    Oh! I see on your countdown banner, you just had an anniversary ! Congratulations on 34 years of wedded bliss!

    Reply
  5. Walking on Sunshine... says

    October 19, 2009 at 11:26 am

    I love this song! I remember my father would quote those verses so many times from the pulpit. He loved to point out how God would and does take care of us because He takes care of the lowly sparrow.

    I never heard the story of how the song was written. Thank you for sharing it!

    What a great way to start my day!

    Is Abbey one of your grandchildren??

    Reply
  6. marie says

    October 19, 2009 at 5:17 am

    Those are two of my most favorite verses and I love that song. I especially love Ethel Waters version of it. She used to sing it at the Billy Graham Crusades.

    Thanks for sharing the history about Civilla.

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Lorraine. Welcome to Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart. A place to find food for your tummy, projects for your hands, and encouragement for your heart.

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