“Leave God to order all your ways,
And hope in Him, whatever betide;
Thou’lt find Him in the evil days,
Your all-sufficient Strength and Guide;
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love,
Builds on the rock that nothing can move.
“What can these anxious cares avail,
These never-ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help us to bewail
Each painful moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.
“Only your restless heart keep still,
And wait in cheerful hope; content
To take whatever His gracious will,
His all-discerning love has sent.
Doubt not our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
“He knows when joyful hours are best,
He sends them as He sees it meet;
When you have borne the fiery test,
And are made free from all deceit,
He comes to you all unaware,
And makes you own His loving care.
“Sing, pray, and swerve not from His ways,
But do your own part faithfully,
Trust His rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in you;
God never yet forsook at need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.”
(Georg Neumark/Newmarch, 1653)
From “The Precious Things of God” by Octavius Winslow, Chapter on the Preciousness of Faith