Counted righteous, yet we sin
Broken, but He lives within
Dying daily while we live
We are paupers, yet we give
Owning, but cannot afford
Wealth belonging to the Lord
Rich beyond all human dreams
In the desert finding streams
Walking from the state of death
Lungs of dust inflate with breath
Weakness shows a deeper might
Faith replaces eyes for sight
Hope endures when hope has died
Tortured souls in peace abide
Counting joy the deepest strife
Dying Son; eternal life
Thank you for your grace in sending
Clouds and rain to cool the day.
Thank you for your love unending,
God who listens when we pray.
Thank you that your love is founded
Not in what this man can bring;
In your life my own is grounded.
Of the cross and grave I sing.
Thank you for a hope unfailing,
For a future sealed and sure.
When my soul this world is ailing,
By your Word I will endure.
Let me always seek your glory,
Yours the Name that reigns alone.
Use my life to tell your story
Till I stand before your throne.
I laid my Bible to rest last Wednesday, and I felt like I was letting go of an old friend.
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In the beginning was the Word, our God.
In him, creation is and is sustained.
In time, upon this earth, he came to trod.
This Jesus: God translated, God explained.
But man, in darkness, did not know the Light,
Nor took the Word as more than persiflage.
The blind still claimed to see with certain sight.
Their law: a mere intransitive triage.
But glory from the Father through the Son
Has broken through the barrier of sin.
The saving work of heaven has been done.
The Word once dead will never die again.
Awakened by the will of God, we claim
Salvation in the Word’s most holy name.
Is God still good when I have been so wrong?
Or when I’m wronged, does love still win the day?
I read that he’s been with me all along,
But can it be when pain and sorrow stay?
Or might it be that his exalted might
Is meant not to pluck out but to uphold?
And could it be my eyes so weak of sight
Cannot perceive his plan of ages old?
Could he be working all things for my good
Although it seems that he is nowhere near?
Is this my furnace, this my cross of wood,
That shows me through my death that God is here?
How can I then bemoan the fiercest throes,
The holy forging, sanctifying blows?
The tragedies and maladies of life
All serve a saving purpose for the saint
For struggles that surmount a life with strife
Become the hues with which our Lord doth paint
O’er ev’ry evil, Elohim prevails
Effulgent Savior, holy thaumaturge
From death’s embrace, the true Messiah hails
And makes what brought despair to heal and purge
Now watch as broken daughters rise to dance
Now see as sickly sons stand up to praise
The vilest horrors help to fix our stance
The worst oppression only lifts the haze
No pow’r is held by any enemy
All things do work as one for good to me
Tenebrific tendencies
Tender for the flame
All of flesh abandoned now
Glory to the Name
Sin no longer satisfies
Life has filled the sinner’s eyes
Hope now grows as darkness dies
Nevermore the same
God’s messiah is revealed
Way and truth and life
Holy kingdom now at hand
Bringing joy and strife
Captive souls, he liberates
Darkest sin, propitiates
Open now are heaven’s gates
Enter, rescued wife
Glory that outweighs despair
All-surpassing hope
Trial now the exercise
Sanctifying trope
Healing wrought in bitter pain
Death: the door to greatest gain
Now removed is every stain
Life: eternal scope
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
James 1:2
All.
Though through the darkest valleys I
May pass in my pursuit of thee
I will remember thou art nigh
And call to mind your love for me
And though my path be wrought with pain
From broken hopes and shattered dreams
I will find joy in you again
And rest in you by peaceful streams
And though the sorrow may increase
Beyond all limits I perceived
You are for me a constant peace
The Lord in whom I have believed
Though weakness and despair abound
As mortal flesh its limits reach
In you, my strength afresh is found
As I your aid do now beseech
as i learn to walk 