Count Your Blessings Hymn Meaning, History, and Theology
"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed"
- Written
- 1897
- Category
- Hymn
- Tune
- COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
- Status
- Published
- Rights
- Public domain
Viewed 330 times
Share this hymn
Help others discover the story, message, and study guide for this hymn.
Story
Count Your Blessings is a public-domain gospel hymn written by Johnson Oatman Jr. with music by Edwin O. Excell and first published in Songs for Young People in 1897. Its memorable refrain encourages believers to remember God’s gifts, resist discouragement and comparison, and practice gratitude in every circumstance.
Overview
Count Your Blessings is a late nineteenth-century gospel song by Johnson Oatman Jr. and Edwin O. Excell. Its central message is that believers should deliberately remember and name God’s gifts, especially when discouragement, anxiety, comparison, or hardship threatens to dominate their perspective.
The hymn does not deny suffering or pretend that gratitude removes every difficulty. Instead, it presents thanksgiving as an act of faith that helps believers recognize God’s continuing providence and care.
Its memorable refrain turns gratitude into a practical spiritual discipline. By recalling God’s blessings one by one, worshipers are encouraged to move from discouragement toward trust, contentment, praise, and perseverance.
Historical Background
Johnson Oatman Jr. wrote Count Your Blessings in 1897, and Edwin Othello Excell composed its music. The hymn was first published that year in Songs for Young People, a collection edited by Excell and issued for the Methodist Book Concern.
The song emerged during the flourishing period of American gospel hymnody associated with Sunday schools, evangelistic campaigns, camp meetings, and revival services. Its verse-and-refrain structure, direct language, and memorable melody made it especially suitable for congregational participation.
The hymn circulated rapidly in the United States and abroad. Contemporary and later accounts noted its enthusiastic reception in Britain, including its use during the Welsh Revival, although some popular stories about its spread are difficult to document in precise detail.
Biblical Foundations
Psalm 103:2 gives the hymn its clearest biblical principle by commanding the worshiper not to forget God’s benefits. The deliberate act of remembering God’s goodness stands at the heart of the song.
First Thessalonians 5:18 calls believers to give thanks in every circumstance, while Philippians 4:6-7 connects thanksgiving in prayer with freedom from anxiety and the peace of God.
James 1:17 identifies every good and perfect gift as coming from God. Hebrews 13:5-6 supports the hymn’s contrast between earthly wealth and spiritual contentment by calling believers to resist the love of money and trust God’s abiding presence.
Verse Explanation
The opening stanza addresses believers who feel overwhelmed by trouble and tempted to believe that everything is lost. It responds by directing attention toward the remembered works and gifts of God.
The second stanza applies the same practice to burdens, doubt, and the crosses Christians are called to bear. Gratitude is presented as a means of renewing confidence and sustaining praise.
The third stanza confronts envy and material comparison. It contrasts lands and gold with the spiritual riches promised in Christ and the hope of heaven.
The final stanza places gratitude within spiritual conflict and perseverance. It affirms God’s sovereignty and encourages believers to continue their journey with confidence in divine help and comfort.
Theological Reflection
The hymn teaches gratitude as a response to divine providence. To count one’s blessings is to confess that life and every good gift are received from God rather than secured by human merit alone.
It also presents gratitude as a discipline of spiritual attention. Anxiety, envy, and discouragement narrow the believer’s vision, while thanksgiving restores awareness of God’s past faithfulness and present care.
The song should not be used to dismiss grief or minimize suffering. Its strongest theological use is not as a demand for forced cheerfulness, but as an invitation to remember God’s grace honestly while continuing to bear real burdens in faith.
Church Impact
Count Your Blessings became one of the best-known gospel songs written by Johnson Oatman Jr. It appeared in numerous Sunday school books, revival collections, denominational hymnals, and evangelistic songbooks in the United States and internationally.
Its broad appeal comes from a message that is both biblical and immediately practical. Congregations can readily connect the refrain with personal testimony, prayer, thanksgiving, and encouragement during hardship.
The original 1897 text and tune are public domain in the United States. Modern arrangements, recordings, translations, harmonizations, and adapted versions may have separate copyright restrictions.
Musical Notes
The tune BLESSINGS was composed by Edwin O. Excell for Oatman’s text. Hymnary.org identifies the meter as 11.11.11.11 with refrain, a structure characteristic of many late nineteenth-century gospel songs.
The tune has a clear rhythmic pattern, a readily remembered melody, and a strongly repetitive refrain. These features support congregational singing and reinforce the central instruction to remember and name God’s blessings.
The hymn works effectively with piano, organ, guitar, brass, choir, or simple congregational accompaniment. A lively but unhurried tempo allows the text to remain understandable while preserving the song’s encouraging character.
Application
- Keep a written record of specific ways God has provided, sustained, guided, or encouraged you.
- Use thanksgiving in prayer when anxiety or discouragement begins to dominate your thoughts.
- Resist comparison by remembering spiritual blessings that wealth cannot purchase.
- Share testimonies of God’s faithfulness to encourage others facing hardship.
- Use the hymn in Thanksgiving services, testimony gatherings, family worship, or teaching on contentment and providence.
Discussion Questions
- How is biblical gratitude different from pretending that suffering does not exist?
- Why does Psalm 103 warn believers not to forget God’s benefits?
- How can thanksgiving affect anxiety according to Philippians 4:6-7?
- What blessings in Christ cannot be measured by possessions or financial wealth?
- How can a congregation practice gratitude without minimizing the pain of those who are suffering?
Teaching Tips
- Introduce the hymn by explaining that it first appeared in Songs for Young People in 1897.
- Read Psalm 103:1-5 before singing and invite participants to identify specific benefits of God named in the passage.
- Use the refrain as a prompt for written or spoken testimonies of gratitude.
- Discuss the third stanza alongside Hebrews 13:5-6 to address comparison, wealth, and Christian contentment.
- Teach the hymn pastorally, making clear that gratitude can coexist with grief, lament, and honest acknowledgment of suffering.
Sources
-
Hymnary.org, text authority page for When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed
-
Hymnary.org, person authority pages for Johnson Oatman Jr. and Edwin O. Excell
-
Hymnology Archive, Count Your Blessings
-
Hymnology Archive, Johnson Oatman Jr. biography
-
Edwin O. Excell, Songs for Young People, 1897
-
Jacob Henry Hall, Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers, 1914
-
World English Bible, public domain Scripture text from eBible.org
Count Your Blessings Lyrics and Guitar Chords
Tune
Sheet Music
Page 1
Page 2
Learn This Hymn
Tune: COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
Learn the Parts
Melody / Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Accompaniment Versions
Choose the accompaniment version that matches how many stanzas you plan to sing.
Standard Accompaniment
Help Keep HymnInfo Free
HymnInfo provides researched hymn histories, Scripture studies, recordings, sheet music, and teaching resources without charge. If this resource has helped you, your support helps us keep improving and expanding it.
Download Resources
Teaching and small-group resources available for this hymn.
Help Create More Free Teaching Resources
These teaching resources are free to use. Contributions help us research more hymns and create additional teaching materials.