I usually call the song, “When Upon Life’s Billows,” “Count Your Many Blessings.” That is funny to me because those seem to be two very different places in life. It can be easier sometimes to realize how blessed I am when everything is going my way but harder to see when things are not going my way. I am reminded of Paul and Silas in Acts sixteen in prison singing and praying or the apostles in Acts five rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. Those seem to be times of moaning not rejoicing and singing. Maybe that is what the song is trying to get us to do: change our perspective. Instead of looking at the glass as half empty, we need to see that we have a glass half full.
The song says these things: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost. . . Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?. . . So amid the conflict whether great or small, Do not be discouraged God is over all.” When we experience trials and tribulations in life, it can be discouraging, but we must remember that God is over all and cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). That can be difficult to remember in the middle of the storms of life.
How might we handle these trails, then? The song suggests to: “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” I do not mean to trivialize your struggles, hardships, and difficulties. We live in a fallen world, and sin has brought many terrible things to us. Even in this fallen world, God blesses us over and over (James 1:17). It might do me well to count my blessings not on just one day a year but every day, even when upon life’s billows.