Great God, We Sing That Mighty Hand
Great God, We Sing That Mighty Hand
Great God, we sing that mighty hand
By which supported still we stand;
The opening year Thy mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it till it close.
By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God;
By His incessant bounty fed,
By His unerring counsel led.
With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to Thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before Thy feet.
In scenes exalted or depressed,
Thou art our Joy, and Thou our Rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
IN SCRIPTURE the “hand of God” often refers to judgment. But for the Christian it is also an image of providential care. We can see this throughout the book of Ezra, where Ezra attributed his success to the fact that the gracious hand of God was upon him.
Philip Doddridge felt the same way. The youngest of twenty children, Doddridge was considered too sickly to live, but the gracious hand of God was upon him. His parents died when he was only a teenager, but he was taken in by a minister who nurtured him in spiritual matters. Doddridge became a pastor, an educator, a hymnwriter, and an author. One theme remained uppermost in his mind—the providence of God. He wrote his hymns to illustrate his sermons and taught them to his congregation after he finished preaching. “Great God, We Sing That Mighty Hand” apparently illustrated a New Year’s sermon.
The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.
Psalm 9:9-10
From the book
