If thou but suf­fer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength, what­e’er be­tide thee,
And bear thee through the ev­il days.
Who trust in God’s un­chang­ing love
Builds on the rock that naught can move.

What can these anx­ious cares avail thee
These ne­ver ceas­ing moans and sighs?
What can it help if thou be­wail thee
O’er each dark mo­ment as it flies?
Our cross and tri­als do but press
The hea­vi­er for our bit­ter­ness.

Be pa­tient and await His lei­sure
In cheer­ful hope, with heart con­tent
To take what­ev­er thy Fa­ther’s plea­sure
And His dis­cern­ing love hath sent,
Nor doubt our in­most want are known
To Him who chose us for His own.

God knows full well when time of glad­ness
Shall be the need­ful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sad­ness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all un­aware
And makes thee own His lov­ing care.

Nor think amid the fiery tri­al
That God hath cast thee off un­heard,
That he whose hopes meet no de­ni­al
Must sure­ly be of God pre­ferred.
Time pass­es and much change doth bring
And set a bound to ev­ery­thing.

All are alike be­fore the High­est:
’Tis ea­sy for our God, We know,
To raise thee up, though low thou li­est,
To make the rich man poor and low.
True won­ders still by Him are wrought
Who set­teth up and brings to naught.

Sing, pray, and keep His ways un­swerv­ing,
Perform thy du­ties faith­ful­ly,
And trust His Word: though un­de­serv­ing,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God ne­ver yet for­sook in need
The soul that trust­ed Him in­deed.