BE THOU CONTENT
Be thou content! be still before
His face, at whose right hand doth reign
Fulness of joy for evermore,
Without Whom all thy toil is vain.
He is thy loving spring, thy sun, whose rays
Make glad with life and light thy dreary days,
Be thou content.
In Him is comfort, light and grace,
And changeless love beyond our thought,
The sorest pang, the worst disgrace,
If He is there, shall harm thee not.
He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands,
And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands.
Be thou content.
Or art thou friendless and alone,
Hast none in whom thou canst confide?
God careth for thee, lonely one,
Comfort and help will He provide.
He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief,
He knoweth when to send thee quick relief.
Be thou content.
Thy heart’s unspoken pain He knows,
Thy secret sighs He hears full well,
What to none else thou dar’st disclose,
To Him thou mayst with boldness tell;
He is not far away, but ever nigh,
And answers willingly the poor man’s cry.
Be thou content.
Be not o’er mastered by thy pain,
But cling to God, thou shall not fail;
The floods sweep over thee in vain,
Thou yet shalt rise above them all;
For when thy trial seems too hard to bear,
Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer.
Be thou content.
Why art thou full of anxious fears
How thou shall be sustained and fed?
He who hath made and placed thee here,
Will give the needful daily bread;
Can’st thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand?
Who feeds all living things on sea and land?
Be thou content.
Sayest thou, I know not how or where,
No help I see where’er I turn;
When of all else we most despair,
The riches of God’s love we learn;
Where thou and I His hand no longer trace,
He leads us forth into a pleasant place.
Be thou content.
Though long His promised aid delay,
At last it will be surely sent:
Though thy heart sink in sore dismay,
The trial for thy good is meant.
What we have won with pains we hold more fast,
What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last.
Be thou content.
Lay not to heart whate’er of ill
Thy foes may falsely speak of thee,
Let man defame thee as he will,
God hears and judges righteously.
Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side,
Man’s cruel anger, or malicious pride?
Be thou content.
We know for us a rest remains,
When God will give us sweet release
From earth and all our mortal chains,
And turn our sufferings into peace.
Sooner or later death will surely come
To end our sorrows, and to take us home:
Be thou content.
Home to the chosen ones, who here
Served their Lord faithfully and well,
Who died in peace, without a fear,
And there in peace for ever dwell;
The Everlasting is their joy and stay,
The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say,
Be thou content!
Translated from the writings of Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676