What can it mean? Is it aught to Him,
That the nights are long and the days are dim?
Can He be touched by the grief I bear,
Which saddens the heart and whitens the hair?
About His throne are eternal calms
And bliss unruffled by any strife–
How can He care for my little life?
And yet, I want Him to care for me,
While I live in this world where sorrows be!
When the lights die down from the path I take,
When strength is feeble and friends forsake,
When love, and music that once did bless,
Have left me in silence and loneliness,
And my life song changes to sobbing prayers,
Then my heart cries out for a God who cares.
O wonderful story of deathless love!
Each child is dear to that heart above;
He fights for me when I cannot fight;
He comforts me in the gloom of night;
He lifts the burden, for He is strong;
He stills the sigh and awakens the song;
The sorrow that bears me down, He bears,
And loves and pardons, because He cares.
Let all who are sad take heart again;
We are not alone in our hours of pain;
Our Father stoops from His throne above;
To soothe and quiet us with His love;
He leaves us not when the storm is high;
And we have safety, for He is nigh;
Can there be trouble, which He doth not share?
Oh, rest in peace, for the Lord will care!
By Marianne Farningham
A Lonesome Place
There’s a lonesome place against the sky
Where sometimes all alone we stand
And watch the world go by
A strange world, not our own;
For deep, heart-breaking sorrow
We never fully share
Alone we stand on that bleak hill
Lost in our deep despair
But the cry that comes
From a burdened heart is heard
There is peace, if we will
For God’s own Son knew the dreadful pain
Of a cross on a lonesome hill
He understands and He stands by
With comfort in our grief
To ease the pain and bring new hope
And give the heart relief
There is a lonesome place
And all must stand there now and then
But if we place our hand in His
He’ll help us smile again
By Helen Marshall