We Rest on Thee, Our Shield and our Defender!

I remember, as a boy, gazing with horror at the pictures of bodies in Life Magazine as they lay face down in the river, spears sticking out of them. I also remember Elizabeth Elliott's book Through Gates of Splendor on our shelf at home.

The death of five missionaries slaughtered by the Auca Indians in January of 1956 reverberated through the Christian world. So did the song they sang before embarking on what would be their last mission: "We Rest on Thee, Our Shield and Our Defender".

 Elizabeth Elliott, wife to one of the slain used a line from that hymn as the title of her book about the five missionaries. The book, and the event that inspired it fanned the fervor of believers and culminated in a great flood of volunteers for missionary service.

Elizabeth Elliott returned to the mission field, and she saw her  husband's killers along with many from their tribe come to Christ. 

You will find the words below the video, which features the hymn's melody (Jean Sibelius' Finlandia) played on bagpipes.

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Yes, in Thy Name, O Captain of salvation!
In Thy dear Name, all other names above;
Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.

Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,

“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.