In the times of bit­ter trou­ble,
When the heart is grieved with loss,
And o’er rough, hard ways we stum­ble,
’Neath the bur­den of our cross,
Then a thought comes, com­fort bring­ing,
And the heart’s dis­or­dered strings
Lose their dis­cord in its mu­sic—
In the sha­dow of His wings!

Refrain

O the thought is sweet­er, sweet­er,
Than the song the sky­lark sings,
Soaring to­ward the gates of Hea­ven—
In the sha­dow of His wings!

Just to think! God is so near us,
That His hand our hand may find
If we reach out in the dark­ness,
Tho’ our eyes with tears are blind!
Close be­side us! O the com­fort
That this thought of near­ness brings,
Tho’ His face for tears we see not!
In the sha­dow of His wings!

Refrain

Love of God that fail­eth ne­ver,
Foll’wing all the wan­der­ing feet,
Hating sin, but seek­ing sin­ners
With a pa­tience strange as sweet;
Follow, fol­low, ev­er fol­low,
Till Thy lov­ing plead­ing brings
All Thy child­ren to the shel­ter
In the sha­dow of Thy wings!

Refrain