Psalm 44
Words: Isaac Watts
(Note, this page also contains a Long
Metre version)
v. 1--5. Part 1. Desertion and hope; or, Complaint of absence from public worship. 1 With earnest longings of the mind, My God, to thee I look; So pants the hunted hart to find And taste the cooling brook. 2 When shall I see thy courts of grace, And meet my God again? So long an absence from thy face My heart endures with pain. 3 Temptations vex my weary soul, And tears are my repast; The foe insults without control, "And where's your God at last ?" 4 'Tis with a mournful pleasure now I think on ancient days; Then to thy house did numbers go, And all our work was praise. 5 But wily, my soul, sunk down so far Beneath this heavy load? Why do my thoughts indulge despair, And sin against my God? 6 Hope in the Lord, whose mighty hand Can all thy woes remove, For I shall yet before him stand, And sing restoring love.
v. 6--11. PART 2. Melancholy thoughts reproved; or, Hope in afflictions.
1 My spirit sinks within me, Lord,
But I will call thy name to mind,
And times of past distress record,
When I have found my God was kind.
2 Huge troubles with tumultuous noise
Swell like a sea, and round me spread;
Thy water-spouts drown all my joys,
And rising waves roll o'er my head.
3 Yet will the Lord command his love,
When I address his throne by day,
Nor in the night his grace remove;
The night shall hear me sing and pray.
4 I '11 cast myself before his feet,
And say, My God, my heav'nly rock,
Why doth thy love so long forget
The soul that groans beneath thy stroke."
5 I'11 chide my heart that sinks so low,
Why should my soul indulge her grief?
Hope in the Lord, and praise him too;
He is my rest, my sure relief.
6 Thy light and truth shall guide me still,
Thy word shall my best thoughts employ,
And lead me to thine heav'nly hill,
My God, my most exceeding joy.
