Look up to thy God again

Representative Text

Look up to thy God again,
Soul, sunk in affliction!
Shall He be reproach’d by men
Through thy sore dejection?
Satan’s wiles dost thou not see?
By severe temptation,
Gladly would he keep from thee
Jesu’s consolation.

Shake thy head in scorn, and “flee,”
Bid the old deceiver—
“Wilt renew thy thrusts at me,
Me to fear deliver?
Serpent! bruis’d thy head I see;
Through His pain hath freed me
From thy grasp, my Lord, and He
To His joy will lead me.

“Dost thou charge my sin to me?
When did God command me
Judgment to require from thee?
Tell me, I demand thee!
Who did pow’r on thee bestow
Sentence to deliver?
Who thyself art sunk so low
In hell’s flames for ever.”

What I have not done aright
Me with sorrow filleth,
But of Jesu’s blood the sight
All mine anguish stilleth.
He the ransom price hath paid,
From the cross relieves me,
When before God’s throne ’tis laid,
Inward joy He gives me.

In Christ’s innocence I boast,
His right is my glory,
Mine His merit, there I trust
As in stronghold hoary,
That the rage of every foe
Evermore resisteth,
Though the might of hell below
It to storm assisteth.

Rage then, devil, and thou, death!
Ye can never hurt me;
In the trials of my path
Doth God’s grace support me.
God His only Son to me,
Mov’d by love, hath given,
That to endless misery
I may not be driven.

Cry then, foolish world! amain,
That God lov’d me never,
That my cherish’d hope is vain,
Has deceiv’d me ever.
Had God been averse to me,
Would He have supported
All the gifts so rich and free
He to me imparted?

What is there in sky or sea,
What the wide earth over,
What that works no good for me,
Canst thou then discover?
Why do star so beauteously
Shine on us from Heaven?
Why are, but for good to me,
Air and water given?

Why do clouds their streams outpour?
Why do dews earth cover?
Why with verdure’s cover’d o’er,
Why flow blessings over
Hill and valley, field and wood?
Truly for my pleasure,
That I dwell secure, and food
Have in plenteous measure.

My soul on God’s word most dear
Feeds and liveth ever,
That all Christians love to hear
Daily, tiring never.
Soon and late my heart in me
God opes for receiving
Of the Spirit’s grace that He
Is so freely giving.

Why through holy men of old
Have God’s words been given?
That we by their light might hold
On our way to heaven,
My heart’s darkness to dispel,
From doubt to deliver,
That the conscience sure and well,
Be establish’d ever.

Now upon this holy ground
Build I most securely,
See how hell’s malicious hound,
Spends ’gainst me his fury.
He can never overthrow
What God hath upraisèd,
But what Satan’s hand doth do
That shall be abasèd.

I am God’s, and mine is God,
Who from Him can part me?
Tho’ the cross with heavy load
Press on me and smart me.
Let it press—the hand of love
Hath the cross laid on me,
He the burden will remove,
When the good is done me.

Children whom aright to guide
Parents would endeavour,
Must the father often chide,
Or they’d prosper never.
If I’m then a child of grace,
Should I shun God ever,
When He from sin’s devious ways,
Seeks me to deliver?

Gracious are the thoughts of God,
In the pain He’s sending,
Who here weeps beneath the rod,
Reaps not woe unending,
But eternal joy shall taste
In Christ’s garden dwelling,
That he shall be there at last,
Now assurance feeling.

Often God’s own children here
Sow in tears and sadness,
But at length the long’d-for year
Comes of joy and gladness;
For the reaping time appears,
All their labours after,
When are turn’d their grief and tears
Into joy and laughter.

Christian heart! courageously
All the griefs that pain thee
Cast behind thee joyfully,
More and more sustain thee
Let sweet consolation’s light;
Praise and honour give you
To the God of love and might,
He’ll help and relieve you.

Paul Gerhardt’s Spiritual Songs, 1867

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Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which condemned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

Translator: J. Kelly

Kelly, John, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, educated at Glasgow University, studied theology at Bonn, New College, Edinburgh, and the Theological College of the English Presbyterian Church (to which body he belongs) in London. He has ministered to congregations at Hebburn-on-Tyne and Streatham, and was Tract Editor of the Religious Tract Society. His translations of Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs were published in 1867. Every piece is given in full, and rendered in the metre of the originals. His Hymns of the Present Century from the German were published in 1886 by the Religious Tract Society. In these translations the metres of the originals have not always been followed, whilst some of the hymns have been abridged and others condens… Go to person page >

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