The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. – Deuteronomy 33:27 This hymn was written, based on the verse above, in 1887. Rev. Anthony Showalter used the verse at the end of letters he wrote to console two men who had both lost their wives. Afterwards, meditating on the verse, he wrote the chorus to the song (possibly with a melody), but couldn't come up with any verses. He sent the lyrics of the chorus to Elisha Hoffman, writer of "Down at the Cross," "I Must Tell Jesus" and over 2,000 other hymn texts. Hoffman wrote the verses to the song and sent it back.