通常的圣诗都是先有词后谱曲，本诗是先有谱而后填词。 作曲者萧华德（Anthony J. Showalter, 1858-1924），原藉弗吉尼亚州。 他自幼随父学音乐，嗣后从数字名师学习歌唱。 1980年开始在音乐学校教授声乐，继而自办出版事业，出版六十多种圣乐诗集，销售逾二百万册。 三十七岁赴英、法、德三国进修圣乐一年。 他在美国南部十二州，经常举办歌唱训练班。 他是长老会的长老。
1988年他在亚拉巴马州举办音乐活动时，接到南卡罗来纳州两个学生的来信，他们都最近丧妻，向他倾吐失去亲人的痛苦。 他不知如何执笔安慰他们，祷告后，申命记33:27：「永生的 神是祢的居所，他永久的膀臂在你以下。」涌现心头，就在信上告诉他们 神的膀臂能扶持我们，伤心的人可投靠祂。寄信后，想起何不将这经文作一诗歌？ 他作了曲，根据那节圣经写下了副歌的歌词，就寄给他的好友霍夫曼，请他完成歌词。
这首圣诗是特为在受试炼，心中伤痛的人而作的。 唱这首诗时，想到 神永远的膀臂，虽灾难临身，心有痛楚难忍，但有 神的膀臂扶持，可免跌倒。
霍夫曼（Elisa A. Hoffman, 1839-1929）生于美国宾州，父亲是牧师。 他毕业于协和神学院，没有受过正式的音乐训练，但 神给他藉诗歌表达救恩的恩赐，十八岁开始作诗，总计有二千多首福音诗歌，许多时也兼作曲。 他是长老会的牧师，也在基督教的出版社事奉十一年。
霍夫曼著名的圣诗有「要告诉耶稣」（I Must Tell Jesus），「是否将一切献上」（Is Your All on the Altar），「荣耀归主名」（Glory to His Name）等。
这首诗的作者史露意（Louisa M. R. Stead, 1850-1917）出生英国，少女时就有蒙召做宣教士的心愿，她期望能去中国传道，但因体弱不克成行。 她廿一岁时迁居美国俄亥俄州，四年后结婚，育有一女莉莉。 当莉莉四岁时，那年夏天他们全家去纽约长岛海滩野餐，露意看着丈夫和女儿挖沙戏水，其乐融融，不禁对自己说「我的福杯满溢，有一个虔诚的丈夫和一个可爱的女儿。」 正在此时她看到一个男孩在巨浪中挣扎呼救，她即刻告诉她丈夫。 他马上跳下去救那男孩，可是不幸一同被海浪卷去，露意抱了莉莉在海边嘶声呼喊，眼看着他们双双没顶。
这个骤然的打击，陷露意于痛苦深渊中，她贫病交逼，祗有靠圣经和圣诗得安慰，她想到「恩友歌」（What a Friend We Have in Jesus）的作者史克文（Joseph Scriven,见p.1）的未婚妻在结婚前夕溺毙；潘黛丝（Elizabeth Prentiss,见p.7）在失去两个儿子后写「更爱我主」（More Love to Thee）。 露意说：「我不需要为爱祷告， 神知道我爱祂，我也知道 神爱我。 我所需要的是更多的信心与依靠，深信祂的权能，祂的引导，带我行经那凄凉渺茫的未来。」
The Bible identifies many groups of people close to God’s heart, but of tender importance to him are orphans:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (Jas 1:27; see also Deut 10:18; Deut 14:24–28; Ps 68:5–6)
Today is Orphan Sunday—a day set aside for “Christians to stand for children who’ve lost the protection and care of [a] family.”1 As you read this excerpt from Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis, take a moment to pray for orphans in your community and ask God how you can love these children for whom God cares.
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It shouldn’t surprise us that God would take direct action to ensure his intentions for the fatherless were carried out. God commanded his people to set aside a portion of their fields for the sole purpose of providing for this group. The line that designated this special area was called the ancient boundary. It created a field, figuratively and literally, in which the alien, orphan, or widow could find the provision necessary to survive.
You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. (Deut 24:17–22 NASB)
This passage opens with a call to biblical justice. While that may not be a particularly popular topic for a Sunday sermon, God is very concerned with justice, specifically when it involves the lives of people who suffer. Here, justice means taking care of the physical needs of aliens, orphans, and widows. . . .
One of the best definitions of justice I’ve heard is implied by the definition of its opposite: evil. Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century British philosopher, said this: “The definition of evil in the world is when good men and women see injustice and do nothing.” Here’s another way to look at it: When it comes to caring for the people on God’s heart, indifference is a sin.
. . .
What God was saying to the Israelites was simple: Harvest your fields without delay and enjoy the goodness you’ve worked hard for. But don’t think only of yourselves. You know all that excess you have lying around? The extra sheaves, the olives that remain on the trees, the grapes still on the vine? Leave that for the widow and orphan, and you’ll be blessed. This wasn’t just a passing thought, it was how God’s people were supposed to live their lives.
