Scripture Verse

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Revelation 3:20

Introduction

portrait
Gerhard Tersteegen
(1697–1769)

Words: Ger­hard Ter­stee­gen, Geist­lich­es Blu­men Gärt­lein (Spir­it­ual Flow­er Gar­den) se­cond edi­tion, 1735 (Gott ruf­et noch, sollt ich nicht end­lich hör­en). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Sar­ah B. Find­lat­er, Hymns from the Land of Lu­ther, se­cond ser­ies, 1855.

Music: Bres­lau As Hym­no­dus Sa­cer (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1625) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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

This hymn is a re­mark­able so­li­lo­quy of an awak­ened and pe­ni­tent soul. It could have been writ­ten on­ly by one who had him­self passed through the deep spir­it­ual ex­pe­ri­enc­es in­volved in con­vic­tion of sin and con­ver­sion from sin. The au­thor was a some­what ec­cen­tric but deep­ly pi­ous mys­tic…At the age of twen­ty-se­ven Ter­stee­gen wrote, in his own blood, a de­di­ca­tion of him­self to God, in which he says: God gra­cious­ly called me out of the world and grant­ed me the de­sire to be­long to him and to be willing to fol­low him. I long for an eter­ni­ty, that I may suit­ably glo­ri­fy him for it.

Nutter, pp. 134–35

Lyrics

God call­ing yet; shall I not hear?
Earth’s plea­sures shall I still hold dear?
Shall life’s swift pass­ing years all fly,
And still my soul in slum­ber lie?

God call­ing yet; shall I not rise?
Can I His lov­ing voice des­pise,
And base­ly His kind care re­pay?
He calls me still—can I de­lay?

God call­ing yet, and shall He knock,
And I my heart the clos­er lock?
He still is wait­ing to re­ceive,
And shall I dare His Spir­it grieve?

God call­ing yet; and shall I give
No heed, but still in bond­age live?
I wait, but He does not for­sake;
He calls me still—my heart, awake!

Ah, yield Him all; in Him con­fide;
Where but with Him doth peace abide?
Break loose, let earth­ly bonds be riv­en,
And let the spir­it rise to hea­ven.

God call­ing yet; I can­not stay;
My heart I yield with­out de­lay;
Vain world, fare­well! from thee I part;
The voice of God hath reached my heart.