Scripture Verse

What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. John 13:7

Introduction

Words: William J. Go­van, No­ve­mber 1893. Ap­peared in In His Pre­sence. Verse­s of the Christ­ian Life by Will­iam J. Go­van, page 94, with an in­tro­duct­ion writ­ten at Thorn­ton­hall, Scot­land.

Music: George­town in Hymns of Con­se­cra­tion and Faith, by James Mount­ain (Lon­don: Mar­shall Bro­thers, new & en­larged edi­tion, 1902), num­ber 130 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Go­van (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Hereafter thou shalt know; in this I rest,
Since Thou hast willed it so, whose will is best;
I walk by faith; what though I do not see?
Thou seest all; this is enough for me.

And so I stand and wait, till Thou shalt ope
Into the light the gate; with glow­ing hope
That bright­er than my bright­est thought shall be
The full un­fold­ing of Thy love to me.

Meanwhile, I can­not tell why things are so;
But this, Thou do­est well, I sure­ly know.
The clouds may veil the sun, and tears mine eyes;
Still reigns my Lord beyond these cur­tained skies.

And so I qui­et my heart as on Thy breast;
That Thou my Fa­ther art lulls me to rest;
A wea­ry child, on Thee my soul is stilled;
Do as Thou wilt, for Thou the best hast willed.

Have Thine own way with me; all things per­form
If in the calm I be, or in the storm;
How sweet, when cloud and storm are ov­er­past,
Just to be home, and with my God at last.