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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHave you ever heard someone say \u201cWell, God works in mysterious ways\u201d? This phrase is often said humorously and a bit sarcastically after something unexpected has happened. Many use it when they\u2019re unable to explain an event or disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a lot of people don\u2019t realize that this phrase originated with a man whose life was fraught with tragedy. He, too, didn\u2019t fully understand God\u2019s ways, and, at times, even questioned the meaning of his own existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you think of the hymn writers of old, you might call to mind men and women who were steadfast in their faith and trust in God. However, William Cowper\u2019s story shows us that God can and does work in the hearts of even the most broken to bring glory to Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William was born to John and Ann Cowper in 1731. While his parents had seven children in all, he and his brother, John, were the only ones to survive past infancy. William\u2019s mother died giving birth to John when William was just six years old, the first of many tragedies in William\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a child, William was deeply troubled by the death of his mother, and over fifty years later he wrote a poem entitled \u201cOn the Receipt of My Mother\u2019s Picture.\u201d William was also bullied throughout his childhood by older children at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating from Westminster School, William fell in love with his cousin, Theodora. However, her father forbade the marriage, separating the two. This sent William into his first bout with depression and mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the age of thirty-two, William was offered a clerk job in the House of Lords. But as the entrance examination drew closer and closer, William began to experience worse depression and anxiety than he\u2019d ever had before. After three different suicide attempts, he was placed in an asylum for the insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This asylum is where he first met his Savior, and he subsequently began to make a recovery, being released only eighteen months later. He went to live with his friends, the Unwins, who soon after moved to Olney. This is where he met John Newton, and the two became good friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The period of relative peace that William felt at Olney led him to write several hymns, which Newton convinced him to include in the hymnbook \u201cOlney Hymns.\u201d Two of these hymns were \u201cThere is a Fountain Filled With Blood,\u201d and \u201cGod Moves in a Mysterious Way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1773, William suffered another attack of mental illness. Though he began to improve for a while, the death of a close family friend plunged him into depression once more. This time, William never fully recovered. He ended up contracting edema in the spring of 1800 and passed away shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lyrics to \u201cGod Moves in a Mysterious Way\u201d echo the questioning of William\u2019s soul throughout his life\u2026 he knew that he couldn\u2019t possibly hope to understand the ways of God. However, it also seems to indicate that, through all of the doubts and fears, he recognized that God could be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It appears fitting that he originally entitled this work \u201cLight Shining Out of Darkness.\u201d Though much of William\u2019s life was filled with darkness, depression, and tragedy, the light of God\u2019s faithfulness and goodness shines out to the world through his testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n