Go Not Far from Me

Go not far from me

O my strength

Whom all my times ob­ey;

Take from me any­thing Thou wilt;

But go not Thou away—

And let the storm that does Thy work

Deal with me as it may.

On Thy com­pass­ion I re­pose

In weak­ness and dis­tress:

I will not ask for great­er ease

Lest I should love Thee less.

O

’tis a bless­èd thing for me

To need Thy ten­der­ness.

While many sym­pa­thiz­ing hearts

For my de­liv­er­ance care

Thou

in Thy wis­er

strong­er love

Art teach­ing me to bear—

By the sweet voice of thank­ful song

And calm

con­fid­ing pray­er.

Thy love has many a light­ed path

No out­ward eye can trace

And my heart sees Thee in the deep

With dark­ness on its face

And com­munes with Thee

’mid the storm

As in a sec­ret place.

O Com­fort­er of God’s re­deemed

Whom the world does not see

What hand should pluck me from the flood

That casts my soul on Thee?

Who would not suf­fer pain like mine

To be con­soled like me?

When I am fee­ble as a child

And flesh and heart give way

Then on Thy ev­er­last­ing strength

With pass­ive trust I stay:

The rough­est wind be­comes a song

The dark­ness shines like day.

O

bless­èd are the eyes that see

Though si­lent ang­uish show

The love that in their hours of sleep

Unthanked may come and go;

And bless­èd are the ears that hear

Though kept awake by woe.

And hap­py they that learn

in Thee

Though pa­tient suf­fer­ing teach

The sec­ret of en­dur­ing strength

And praise too deep for speech;

Peace that no pres­sure from with­out

No strife with­in

can reach.

There is no death for me to fear

For Christ

my Lord

hath died;

There is no curse in this my pain

For He was cru­ci­fied.

And it is fel­low­ship with Him

That keeps me near His side.

My heart is fixed

O God

my strength

My heart is strong to bear:

I will be joy­ful in Thy love;

And peace­ful in Thy care.

Deal with me

for my Sav­ior’s sake

According to His pray­er.

No suf­fer­ing while it lasts is joy

How blest so­e’er it be;

Yet may the chast­ened child be glad

His Fa­ther’s face to see;

And O

it is not hard to bear

What must be borne in Thee.

It is not hard to bear by faith

In Thy own bo­som laid

The tri­al of a soul re­deemed

For Thy re­joic­ing made.

Well may the heart in pa­tience rest

That none can make afraid.

Safe in Thy sanc­ti­fy­ing grace

Almighty to re­store—

Borne on­ward—sin and death be­hind

And love and life be­fore;

O

let my soul abound in hope

And praise Thee more and more.

Deep unto deep may call; but I

With peace­ful heart will say—

Thy lov­ing-kind­ness hath a charge

No waves can take away;

And let the storm that speeds me home

Deal with me as it may.