Whate'er my God ordains is right...

In light of Cam's physical trials and Luke and Evelyn's difficult days of not knowing what the Lord had in store for them, I had to work out knowing God's sovereignty in my head and trusting it in my heart. It truly is amazing to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. I love the Fawcetts, and pray that there will be a day when Jack runs around outside of our church with their Cam, just like Izzy and their Maggie have done these last couple years. This hymn is dear to me, and of course always brings out my tears.

Original Trinity Hymnal, #94

Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Holy his will abideth;
I will be still whate'er he doth;
And follow where he guideth:
He is my God: though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to him I leave it all.

Whate'er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path;
I know he will not leave me:
I take, content, what he hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait his day.

Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking:
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate'er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet am I not forsaken;
My Father's care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to him I leave it all.

From what I have found, the words are by Samuel Rodigast (1649-1708), who was a teacher and philosophy scholar and the devout son of a German Lutheran pastor. According to the Nordhäuser Hymnal (1687), Rodigast wrote the words for this hymn for a very ill friend, Severus Gastorius. Gas­tor­i­us not on­ly re­cov­ered, but as a church musician, he went on to write the tune for Rod­i­gast’s poem.

The Psalter Hymnal Handbook observes: “A sermon on Deuteronomy 32:4 in hymn form, the text is a confession of unshakable trust in God's providence in our lives. The text expresses the kind of devout faith that produced Lutheran Pietism (which began around 1670) and provides a worthy vehicle for congregations to affirm trust in God's care.”