There is a hand, unseen by me

“There is a hand, unseen by me” is the opening line given to this hymn at Hymnary.org. It is nice, but does not match the line in any songbooks I have checked.

Albert Jackson Sims wrote The Unseen Hand, probably in 1918. A. J. Sims was the son of Newton Washington and Phoba Tabitha Sims. A. J. was born July 2, 1884. The first census in which he is recorded gives his place of birth as South Carolina, but in the censuses afterwards Georgia is listed as his place of birth. A. J. married Clara Jane Thomas around 1919 (they are a married couple in the 1920 census). A. J. and Clara had at least four children (Ruby, Joseph, David, Jean). A. J. Sims died October 6 1969 at age 85, and his wife Clara died in 1990. They are buried at the West Hill Cemetery in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, in EE Annex numbers 573 – 3 and 573 - 4.

Albert Jackson Sims was an ordained elder in the Primitive Baptist Church. He was licensed by the Euharlee Association in 1925. He primarily worked at textile mills at Dalton, but he also taught singing schools. In the 1920 census he was listed as “Teacher, Music School.” When he registered for the World War I draft he was listed as a farmer. It seems likely he wrote other songs. Sims is listed in “Volume S” of the online Primitive Baptist Ministers’ Biographies. It has several minor errors. However, no doubt correctly, it mentions that he was known for his great memory – and also that he was blind several years before his death.

The earliest printing I have located of The Unseen Hand is in Crowning Hymns No. 10: for Conventions, Singing Societies, Etc. (Atlanta, GA: The Morris-Henson Company, 1930, No. 151). The song is dated 1918, indicating that is when Sims wrote or copyrighted it. In that book it appears as follows (which has some substantive differences in text from the version I learned growing up).

1. There is an unseen hand to me,
That’s guiding o’er life’s troubled sea;
And some sweet day I’ll reach that strand,
While holding to the unseen hand.

Refrain:
I’m trusting to the unseen hand,
That guides me through this weary land;
And some sweet day I’ll reach that strand,
While holding to the unseen hand.

2. I long to see my Savior’s face,
And I am trusting in His grace;
I know he’ll lead me to that home,
Where I shall never sigh or roam. [Refrain]

3. His hand has led through shadows dim,
And now I’m fully trusting Him;
And when I reach that golden strand,
I’ll praise with joy that guiding hand. [Refrain]

The song has attained some popularity among Baptist churches in the South, and even appears in the Christian Hymnal of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, of Moundridge, Kansas (1959, No. 467). This book adds under the title this Bible text: “O my God, I trust in thee” Psalm 25:2. The song recognizes and extols the providential hand of God that goes with and guides us through life. I have heard some object to the fact that the name “God” is not mentioned in the song. This is true, but to me seems to be part of the point – as in the book of Esther, even when we don’t see him, recognize him, or mention him, God is still there.

Among other song books, The Unseen Hand is in Pilgrim’s Hymnal (No. 228), a song book of the Progressive Primitive Baptists, and Favorite Songs and Hymns (No. 233), a Stamps-Baxter publication edited by Homer Morris (and the book I learned it in). In those books, it appears as follows.

1. There is an unseen hand to me,
That leads through ways I cannot see;
While going through this world of woe,
This hand still leads me as I go.

Refrain:
I’m trusting to the unseen hand,
That guides me through this weary land;
And some sweet day I’ll reach that strand,
Still guided by the unseen hand.

2. His hand has led through shadows drear,
And while it leads I have no fear;
I know ’twill lead me to that home,
Where sin nor sorrow e’er can come. [Refrain]

3. I long to see my Savior’s face
And sing the story “Saved by Grace,”
And there upon that Golden Strand,
I’ll praise Him for His guiding hand. [Refrain]

Since Crowning Hymns has “A. J. Sims, owner. 1918” and that Pilgrim’s Hymnal and Radio Beams has “Owned by the Author” – and the texts in these books are different – it seems reasonable to assume that Sims made the changes to the text himself. However, we cannot be certain without further evidence.

The following quote has been credited to Vance Havner, though I have failed to find an original source:

“I thank God for the Unseen Hand, sometimes urging me onward, sometimes holding me back; sometimes with a caress of approval, sometimes with a stroke of reproof; sometimes correcting, sometimes comforting. My times are in His hand.”

Praise God for both his seen and unseen hand!