Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Dwelling Place

Lord

Thou hast been our dwell­ing place

Through all the ag­es of our race;

Before the mount­ains had their birth

Or Thou hadst formed the earth;

From ev­er­last­ing Thou art God

To ev­er­last­ing our abode.

At Thy com­mand man fades and dies

And new­born ge­ne­ra­tions rise;

A thou­sand years are passed away

And all to Thee are but a day;

Yea

like the watch­es of the night

With Thee the ag­es wing their flight.

Man soon yields up his fleet­ing breath

Before the swell­ing tide of death;

Like tran­si­ent sleep his sea­sons pass

His life is like the ten­der grass

Luxuriant ’neath the morn­ing sun

And wi­thered ere the day is done.

Man in Thine anger is con­sumed

And un­to grief and sor­row doomed;

Before Thy clear and search­ing sight

Our sec­ret sins are brought to light;

Beneath Thy wrath we pine and die

Our life ex­pir­ing like a sigh.

For three­score years and ten we wait

Or fours­core years if strength be great;

But grief and toil at­tend life’s day

And soon our spir­its fly away;

O who with true and rev­er­ent thought

Can fear Thine an­ger as he ought?

O teach Thou us to count our days

And set our hearts on wis­dom’s ways

Turn

Lord

to us in our dis­tress

In pi­ty now Thy serv­ants bless;

Let mer­cy’s dawn dis­pel our night

And all our day with joy be bright.

O send the day of joy and light

For long has been our sor­row’s night;

Afflicted through the wea­ry years

We wait un­til Thy help ap­pears;

In all Thy child­ren Thou abide

In us let God be glo­ri­fied.

So let there be on us be­stowed

The beau­ty of the Lord our God;

The work ac­comp­lished by our hand

Establish Thou

and make it stand;

Yea

let our hope­ful la­bor be

Established ev­er­more by Thee.