LORD! give me grace to look to thee,
While toss’d on life’s tempestuous sea—
While lightnings flash and thunders roll:
Thy word can still the tempest’s rage,
Though earth and hell united wage
Their ceaseless war against my soul.
My bark, though fragile, is thy care,
And shall outride the storm, and bear
Its treasures to the heavenly shore,
Where storms no more shall rend the skies,
Nor waves tumultuous ever rise—
Beyond the reach of thunder’s roar.
Lord! thou hast cross’d this life’s rough sea,
And biddest me to look to thee,
And ever on thy care depend;
I will not doubt thy faithful love,
Though all below unfaithful prove;
Through grace I’ll trust thee to the end.
Thou watchest o’er me in thy love,
And faithful to thy word wilt prove—
Thy precious word’s my guide and stay:
The trials thou art pleased to send
Work but for good, while I depend
Upon thy love, and mark thy way.
Let me not murmur, though I smart,
And bear the burden on my heart
Of dear ones who reject thy love;
Who will not heed the warnings given—
Preferring earth—despising heaven,
And will not seek the things above.
Oh God! work in thy sovereign grace,
The love of earth and sin displace,
By thy supreme, all-conquering love;
I have no hope but in thy power;
O, bend, and break, and then restore,
And fit them for thy courts above.
My hope is in thee, blessed Lord!
I hang upon thy precious word,
To bear me up, and bring me through:
I cry to thee—Ο hear my prayer!
My loved ones, in thy mercy spare,
And save them from the pit of woe!
Lord! make them thy rich grace to know,
Thy power to save in them now show,
And bid my troubled heart rejoice:
Thyself to them in love reveal,
And stamp them with thy Spirit’s seal,
And make them hear and know thy voice.