Scripture Verse

He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. Psalm 103:14

Introduction

Words: Fran­ces R. Ha­ver­gal, 1865. Pub­lished in Min­is­try of Song, 1869.

Music: Grange, Ro­bert Brown-Borth­wick, 1883 (🔊 pdf nwc)

Alternate Tunes:

  • Grabesruhe Ro­bert Rau, 1864. Ap­peared in The Li­tur­gy and the Of­fice of Wor­ship and Hymns of the Am­eri­can Pro­vince of the Uni­tas Frat­rum, or the Mo­ra­vi­an Church (Beth­le­hem, Penn­syl­van­ia: Mo­ra­vi­an Pub­li­ca­tion Of­fice, 1908), page 142 (🔊 pdf nwc)
  • Irby Hen­ry J. Gaun­tlett, 1849 (🔊 pdf nwc)

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

portrait
Frances R. Havergal
(1836–1879)

In No­vember of 1865… Ha­ver­gal re­ceived a let­ter from one of her niec­es who was in board­ing school. It pre­sent­ed a long li­ta­ny of com­plaints from a young wo­man, down on her­self and her cir­cum­stan­ces.

She was tired, she was wea­ry with school work, she was lone­ly, and so on. To crown it all, she couldn’t get per­mis­sion to go home for her bro­ther’s birth­day. In re­sponse, her aunt wrote a hymn and sent it to her.

Robert Cottrill, May 23, 2017

Lyrics

Yes, He knows the way is drea­ry,
Knows the weak­ness of our frame,
Knows that hand and heart are wea­ry,
He in all points felt the same.
He is near to help and bless;
Be not wea­ry, on­ward press.

Look to Him, who once was will­ing
All His glo­ry to re­sign,
That, for thee the law ful­fill­ing,
All His mer­it might be thine.
Strive to fol­low, day by day,
Where His foot­steps mark the way.

Look to Him, the Lord of Glo­ry,
Tasting death to win thy life;
Gazing on that won­drous sto­ry,
Canst thou fal­ter in the strife?
Is it not new life to know
That the Lord hath loved thee so?

Look to Him, and faith shall bright­en,
Hope shall soar, and love shall burn,
Peace once more thy heart shall light­en;
Rise, He call­eth thee, re­turn!
Be not wea­ry on thy way;
Jesus is thy strength and stay.