Scripture Verse

Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:27–28

Introduction

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems (Bris­tol, Eng­land: Fe­lix Far­ley, 1742), pag­es 7–8.

Music: Ab­schied Wen­zel Müll­er, 1828 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Wenzel Müller (1767–1835)

Lyrics

The world He made He still sustains,
When then dost thou, O Israel, say,
My God forgets His people’s pains;
His Jacob is a castaway
?

Repent thee of thy peevish haste,
Recall the rash desponding word,
No more complain, The hour is past,
And I have wearied out my Lord.

Hast thou not heard, hast thou not known,
The ev­er­last­ing God, that laid
The earth’s foundations, rules alone,
Nor faints to bear the world He made?

Jehovah is unchangeable,
His ways, and thought, are not as ours,
He cheers the languid souls that fail,
And quickens all their drooping powers.

Gently He lifts the fallen up,
He gives them faith, and faith’s increase,
Revives their feeble, dying hope,
And fills with love, and joy and peace.

Blasted, the vigor of the young
Shall fade, and suddenly decay;
The bold, and confident, and strong,
Shall fear, despair, and die away.

But they who wait upon the Lord
Shall surely find His promise true,
Receive the quickening pow­er­ful Word,
And, born of God, their strength renew.

Their willing souls from sin set free,
Shall swiftly in His statutes move,
Shall walk in glo­ri­ous liberty,
Shall fly upon the wings of love.

With eagle’s wings their souls shall rise,
Steady and strong to Hea­ven soar,
Regain on earth their native skies,
And faint, and fall, and sin no more.