How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand,
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove
My sov’reign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs shall they still, like lambs shall they still,
Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!
Hymn No. 85, LDS Hymnbook
Text: Attr. to Robert Keen, ca. 1787. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835.
Music: Attr. to J. Ellis, ca. 1889
I have been thinking about this hymn a lot lately. I love the poetry. I love the imagery. I love that it is a reminder that Christ will not forsake us. Today I was particularly struck by verse 5:
"The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine."
I hope I can learn from my difficult times and become a more refined individual. Sometimes I'm not sure that I'm making it, but I'm trying. Sometimes that's all we have to give.
Just keep trying.
5 comments:
This is one of my favorite hymns, too, and I've been delighted that the Primary has learned it.
I love that hymn too. I visited a ward near us that had just lost 5 of their youth who drowned in a tragic car accident and we sang this hymn. I don't think there was a dry eye in the meeting. It made me think that my own "deep waters" are not all that deep, although they sure feel like it at times.
FAVOURITE HYMN EVER. truly. not only do i love the music and the words, but it references my favourite scripture - isaih 41:10.
i am always so excited when we get to sing extra verses.
thanks for the reminder & time to reflect.
beautiful post. it really is a wonderful hymn. sometimes, i am amazed that i don't really know the meaning of these hymns that i sing every sunday. it is a great reminder to listen as i sing. :)
Was I inspired or WHAT? They sang it as the intermediate hymn for the RS Gen. mtg and again a week later at General Conference! I love it.
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