Before I begin this post, I must give proper credit… most of what you are about to read comes from Robert J. Morgan’s book, “Then Sings My Soul: Book 2.”

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known; Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own…

Are you convinced that God’s timing is always perfect? The name of Major Daniel Webster Whittle probably does not sound familiar to most of us, but he is the author of the hymn texts from “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing,” and “Moment By Moment.” Daniel Whittle was born in 1840. He grew up in the Boston area but moved to Chicago as a teenager to work for the Wells Fargo Bank. After the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the 72^nd Illinois Infantry. He had recently fallen in love with Abbie Hanson and on the day before he left for war, he and Abbie were married. Whittle and the rest of his Company B headed straight into one of the worst battles in American history in Vicksburg and Whittle was taken captive by the Confederates and was quite seriously injured… even losing his right arm.

The Lord had a plan for him because while he laid in the hospital recovering, he became extremely bored and the only thing that he could do was read. Wouldn’t you guess that the only thing that was available for him to read was a New Testament? He read its words and felt a stirring in his heart that he needed to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, but he just wasn’t ready and fell asleep.

Not long after, he was awakened by a hospital orderly who informed him that another POW was dying and needed someone to pray with him. Whittle let the orderly know that he was the wrong person for the job. The orderly, however, said, “But I thought you were a Christian; I have seen you reading your Bible.”

Whittle later wrote, “I dropped on my knees and held the boy’s hand in mine. In a few broken words, I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed and pleaded God’s promises. When I arose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior used me to lead him to trust Christ’s precious blood and find pardon.”

Yes, God’s timing is always perfect. Notice that he used four different people and things to bring Whittle to him: the war and injury, a New Testament (someone had to provide it too, right?), an observant orderly, and a dying man. Read the lines of the hymn again at the top and the bottom of this article… are you convinced of God’s perfect timing?

… But “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that day.”