Scripture Verse

Fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. Psalm 81:16

Introduction

Words & Mu­sic: Lan­ta W. Smith, in Ho­ney Out of the Rock, by Will­iam S. Nick­le, Frank­lin A. Har­din & John B. Shaw (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Mey­er & Bro­ther, 1892), num­ber 1 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

illustration
Honey Out of the Rock, 1892

Out in the de­sert of sin Je­sus found me,
Lost in the depths of a sin­ner’s des­pair;
Gently thro’ paths of for­give­ness He led me,
Spreading a feast in the wil­der­ness rare.

Refrain

With ho­ney from the rock He is feed­ing His peo­ple,
Honey from the rock, ho­ney from the rock;
With ho­ney from the rock He is feed­ing His peo­ple,
Sweet are the gifts of God.

Now from the rich­es of grace He’s be­stow­ing
Wonderful bless­ings my joy to com­plete;
Feeding my soul ev­ery day with His boun­ty—
Honey and milk, and the best of the wheat.

Refrain

No one can tell all the joy of re­demp­tion;
No one des­cribe half the bless­ings in store;
No one can mea­sure the bliss of pos­sess­ing
Knowledge of par­don, and peace ev­er­more.

Refrain

Come, sin­ner, come, there’s a wide in­vi­ta­tion;
Come with your sin-bur­dened, hun­ger­ing heart;
Think of the joy that is pro­mised the faith­ful—
In all this bless­ed­ness you have a part.

Refrain