22.11.09

Beautiful Resignation


These lyrics, found in a little 150-year old hymnal, have been a good challenge and reminder to me of the claim that God rightfully has on our lives:


It is the Lord - enthroned in light,
Whose claims are all divine:
Who has an undisputed right
To govern me and mine.

It is the Lord - should I distrust,
Or contradict His will,
Who cannot do but what is just,
And must be righteous still?

It is the Lord - who gives me all,
My wealth, my friends, mine ease,
And of His bounties may recall
Whatever part He please.

It is the Lord - who can sustain
Beneath the heaviest load,
From whom assistance I obtain
To tread the thorny road.

It is the Lord - my covenant God,
Thrice blessed be His name!
Whose gracious promise, sealed with blood,
Must ever be the same.

Can I, with hopes so firmly built,
Be sullen, or repine?
No, gracious God, take what Thou wilt,
To Thee I all resign.

I desire for the last lines to be my heart-felt prayer - Gracious God, take what Thou wilt, to Thee I all resign - Not demanding anything from my God, but offering Him hands that are held open in worship, ready to relinquish or receive whatever He ordains.
After all - our God is the One who did not spare His own Son, so can't we trust Him to freely give us what is really for our good and His glory?

4 comments:

His sheep said...

I cannot pretend that I could understand what you are going through even if I knew more about it, but I will be praying for you. While the following lyrics are paired with a cheery and energetic melody line in the hymnal with which I am most familiar, yet in thinking over the humility and trust which is evident in your response and which you wish to be more evident in your future responses they popped into my mind:

Praise the Savior, ye who know Him!
Who can tell how much we owe Him?
Gladly let us render to Him
All we are and have.

Jesus is the Name that charms us,
He for conflict fits and arms us;
Nothing moves and nothing harms us
While we trust in Him.

Trust in Him, ye saints, forever,
He is faithful, changing never;
Neither force nor guile can sever
Those He loves from Him.

Keep us, Lord, O keep us cleaving
To Thyself, and still believing,
Till the hour of our receiving
Promised joys with Thee.

Then we shall be where we would be,
Then we shall be what we should be,
Things that are not now, nor could be,
Soon shall be our own.

~ Thomas Kelly

Psalm 119:28, "My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me according unto Thy word."

Angela said...

I love this, Steph! I may be reposting it on my facebook soon =).

Stephanie said...

His Sheep, I love those lyrics! Thank you for sharing, and for your prayers.

Angela, you're welcome too re-post. Thanks for commenting.

Kendra H said...

Is this hymn from the hymnal you got from our house? If so, I kept the Methodist one from 1917. There are some neat ones in it. I haven't taken time to study them too much though.