I Belong To the King

Words by Ida L. Reed.  Music by Maurice A Clifton.

From Forty Gospel Hymn Stories by George W. Sanville, 1943, p. 56

"I Belong to the King" was literally beaten out of a humble life by the flail of burdensome trials and afflictions.

Ida L. Reed, author of the hymn, rightly deserved to sing "I belong to the King."  She was born and reared in the mountains of West Virginia. Her life was one long, continuous burden-bearing journey. For many years she was compelled to do heavy and arduous work [common] to farm life.  This she did in support of an invalid and widowed mother.

Broken at last by the strenuous toil and privations, she was sorely afflicted and bed-ridden for years.  Even then, in her hours of pain, she wrote poems for publishers to eke out a meager living.  She was removed to a hospital in Washington, D. C., as a last resort, in the hope of prolonging her pain-wracked, yet beautiful life.  From her hospital bed of pain, she wrote the words of this poem.

"I Belong to the King" is a golden nugget from the mine of character of one of God's most humble children.  For, as often the most beautiful flowers grow in inconspicuous places, so from the inner garden of one of the least of the children of the Lord there comes this flower of thought...

Maurice A. Clifton matched his high estimate of the poem by giving it [a good] setting.  The song leaped into popularity and has earned a well-merited reputation.  It has been a source of comfort, with a measure of satisfaction, that I have been able to bring help to this deserving author.  When the attention of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was called to a financial state that was short of life's bare necessities, they voted her a pension with a monthly allowance that banished anxiety, and assured comfort for the rest of her life.

[Mark 14:8]  "She hath done what she could..."

I belong to the King, I'm a child of His love,

I shall dwell in His palace so fair;

For He tells of its bliss in yon heaven above,

And His children its splendors shall share.

CHORUS:

I belong to the King, I'm a child of His love,

And He never forsaketh His own;

He will call me some day to His palace above,

I shall dwell by His glorified throne.

I belong to the King, and He loves me I know,

For His mercy and kindness, so free,

Are unceasingly mine, wheresoever I go,

And my refuge unfailing is He.

CHORUS

 I belong to the King, and His promise is sure,

That we all shall be gathered at last

In His kingdom above, by life's waters so pure,

When this life with its trials is past.

CHORUS

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