I Left the God of Truth and Light

I left the God of truth and light

I left the God who gave me breath

To wan­der in the wilds of night

And per­ish in the snares of death.

Sweet was His serv­ice

and His yoke

Was light and ea­sy to be borne;

Through all His bonds of love I broke

I cast away His gifts with scorn.

I danced in fol­ly’s gid­dy maze

And drank the sea

and chased the wind;

But false­hood lurked in all her ways

Her laugh­ter left re­morse be­hind.

I dreamed of bliss in plea­sure’s bow­ers

While pil­low­ing ros­es stayed my head;

But ser­pents hissed among the flow­ers;

I woke

and thorns were all my bed.

In rich­es when I sought for joy

And placed in sor­did gains my trust

I found that gold was all al­loy

And world­ly trea­sure fleet­ing dust.

I wooed am­bi­tion

climbed the pole

And shone among the stars—but fell

Headlong

in all my pride of soul

Like Lu­ci­fer

from Heav’n to hell.

Heart-broken

friend­less

poor

cast down

Where shall the chief of sin­ners fly

Almighty Ven­geance

from Thy frown?

Eternal Jus­tice

from Thine eye?

Lo

through the gloom of guil­ty fears

My faith dis­cerns a dawn of grace;

The Sun of Right­eous­ness ap­pears

In Je­sus’ re­con­cil­ing face.

My suf­fer­ing

slain

and ris­en Lord

In sore dis­tress I turn to Thee;

I claim ac­cept­ance on Thy word;

My God

my God

for­sake not me.

Prostrate be­fore the mer­cy seat

I dare not

if I would

des­pair;

None ev­er per­ished at Thy feet

And I will lie for ev­er there.