Scripture Verse

I will go in the strength of the Lord God. Psalm 71:16

Introduction

Words: Ed­ward Tur­ney, in The Church Mis­sion­ary Glean­er, by the Church Mis­sion­ary So­ci­ety (now the Church Mis­sion So­ci­ety) (Lon­don: See­ley, Jack­son & Hal­li­day) vol­ume XI, Jan­ua­ry 1861, page 12, signed The Ma­ce­do­ni­an. Sub­se­quent­ly ap­peared in Tur­ney’s Me­mo­ri­al Po­ems and Hymns, 1864.

Music: Hymn of Eve, adapt­ed from How cheer­ful along the gay mead, in the ora­to­rio Abel, by Tho­mas A. Arne, 1789 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Thomas Arne (1710–1778)

Lyrics

I will go in the strength of the Lord,
In the path He hath marked for my feet:
I will fol­low the light of His Word,
Nor shrink from the dan­gers I meet.
His pre­sence my steps shall at­tend:
His full­ness my wants shall sup­ply;
On Him, till my jour­ney shall end,
My hope shall se­cure­ly re­ly.

I will go in the strength of the Lord,
To the work He ap­points me to do;
In the joy which His smile shall af­ford,
My soul shall her vi­gor re­new.
His wis­dom will guard me from harm,
His power my suf­fi­cien­cy prove—
I will trust His om­ni­po­tent arm;
I will rest in His co­ve­nant love.

I will go in the strength of the Lord,
To each con­flict which faith may re­quire;
His grace, as my shield and re­ward,
My cour­age and zeal shall in­spire.
If He is­sue the word of command
To meet and en­count­er the foe,
Though with sling and with stone in my hand,
In the strength of the Lord I will go.