In Lutheran Service Book, this hymn by Paul Gerhardt is #754. In LSB the text is set to a new tune by LCMS composer, Stephen R. Johnson, a tune called SUFFICIENTIA. In previous hymnals this text was set to a more somber tune. SUFFICIENTIA is a tune that better reflects the confident trust which believers have in a God who sees and knows and meets their every need, a God who will sustain them through each and every trial that they experience in this fallen world. It is one of my favorite hymns by Paul Gerhardt...yet how does a person choose one from the many gems that he wrote?
To God's most loving hand;
He cares for you while ruling
The sky, the sea, the land.
For He who guides the tempests
Along their thund'rous ways
Will find for you a pathway
And guide you all your days.
2. Rely on God your Savior
And find your life secure.
Make His work your foundation
That your work may endure.
No anxious thought, no worry,
No self-tormenting care
Can win your Father's favor;
His heart is moved by prayer.
3. Take heart, have hope, my spirit,
And do not be dismayed;
God helps in ev'ry trial
And makes you unafraid.
Await His time with patience
Through darkest hours of night
Until the sun you hoped for
Delights your eager sight.
4. Leave all to His direction;
His wisdom rules for you
In ways to rouse your wonder
At all His love can do.
Soon He, His promise keeping,
With wonder-working pow'rs
Will banish from your spirit
What gave you troubled hours.
5. O bless-ed heir of heaven,
You'll hear the song resound
Of endless jubilation
When you with life are crowned.
In your right hand your maker
Will place the victor's palm,
And you will thank Him gladly
With heaven's joyful psalm.
6. Our hands and feel, Lord, strengthen
With joy our spirits bless
Until we see the ending
Of all our life's distress.
And so throughout our lifetime
Keep us within Your care
And at our end then bring us
To heav'n to praise You there.
2 comments:
Pastor Lange brought Holy Communion to my husband Thursday. This is the hymn he chose to sing to us. He alternated singing a verse and then reading the next verse.After he had finished , he added that the man who had written the words was a man that had a great deal of difficulty in his life during the death of his children. I'm very interested now in the LCMS Family Ministry I've been reading about http://www.lcms.org/pages/default.asp?NavID=1687 and have been trying to stimulate some interest in the organization of a Family Life Action Group at St. John's here in Topeka.
There was the Thirty Years’ War when Paul Gerhardt lost his parental home. There was the loss of his wife and four of his five children to disease. A life much like that Job had, According to this article -http://concordia.typepad.com/vocation/2007/02/lutheranisms_sw.html
Now that my husband is in a wheel chair, he feels like Job also. Yet he has only lost his good health and dignity not his home, not his
wife, children or friends. Yet he still battles with the devil daily these last 20 months. I'm so thankful God is with us, it isn't easy being his full time care provider, I'm thankful I'm not alone.
I'm on the second chapter of The Hammer of God written by Bo Zertz and thinking back on my own experiances these past 57 years, having been on both sides of the fence now.
Last Sunday Pastor Langes sermon included " Sing to the Lord a New Song, "Entrusting Your Days and Burdens" was a new song for my husband and I. It was the first time we had ever heard it.
As I look back I can surely see that so far, God is doing a wonderful job of directing my life and organizing the events along the way that have been helping me grow. My parents divorced when I was two years old so God was really the only Father I had to talk to.
And what about you ? How does this hymn effect you ? I haven't been at Wittenburg Trail in awhile, with the coming of spring I've been outside in the yard.
this hymn definitely , makes me more grateful for gods goodness n more aware of the reality of The lord not going away , " even when we can't see it hes working " as the more recent hymn goes .is fascinating in a morbid way Paul gerhardts sorrows , painful circumstances can yield the most beautiful fruits . Hope by gods grace and perseverance things are better for your husband in 2011 . willkeepyou in prayer .
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