Scripture Verse

God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me. Job 23:16

Introduction

portrait
Julius K. R. Sturm (1816–1896)

Words: Ju­li­us K. R. Sturm (1816–1896). Trans­la­tor un­known, be­fore 1868.

Music: Com­po­ser un­known (shown in some hym­nals as Quis­quam—La­tin for any­one), be­fore 1886 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Pain’s fur­nace heat within me qui­vers,
God’s breath up­on the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in ang­uish shi­vers,
And trem­bles at the fie­ry glow.

Refrain

And yet I whis­per, As God wills,
And in His hot­test fire hold still;
And yet I whis­per, As God wills,
And in His hot­test fire hold still.

He comes and lays my heart all heat­ed,
On His hard an­vil, minded so;
Yet in His own fair form to beat it
With His great ham­mer, blow by blow.

Refrain

He takes my soft­ened heart and beats it;
The sparks fly off at ev­ery blow;
He turns it o’er and o’er and beats it,
And lets it cool, and makes it glow.

Refrain

He kin­dles for my pro­fit, pure­ly,
Affliction’s glow­ing, fie­ry brand;
For all His hea­vi­est blows are sure­ly
Inflicted by a mas­ter hand.

Refrain

I will not mur­mur at the sor­row
That on­ly long­er lived would be;
The end may come, and that to­mor­row,
When God hath wrought His will in me.

Refrain