If you will only let God guide you,
And hope in Him through all your ways,
Whatever comes, He’ll stand beside you,
To bear you through the evil days;
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
Builds on the Rock that cannot move.
Only be still, and wait His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whatever the Father’s pleasure
And all discerning love have sent;
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him Who chose us for His own.
Sing, pray, and swerve not from His ways,
But do your part in conscience true;
Trust His rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in you;
God hears the call of those in need,
The souls that trust in Him indeed.
Winkworth’s original translation:
If thou but suffer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength, whate’er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trust in God’s unchanging love
Builds on the rock that naught can move.
What can these anxious cares avail thee
These never ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help if thou bewail thee
O’er each dark moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.
Be patient and await His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whatever thy Father’s pleasure
And His discerning love hath sent,
Nor doubt our inmost want are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
God knows full well when time of gladness
Shall be the needful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sadness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all unaware
And makes thee own His loving care.
Nor think amid the fiery trial
That God hath cast thee off unheard,
That he whose hopes meet no denial
Must surely be of God preferred.
Time passes and much change doth bring
And set a bound to everything.
All are alike before the Highest:
’Tis easy for our God, We know,
To raise thee up, though low thou liest,
To make the rich man poor and low.
True wonders still by Him are wrought
Who setteth up and brings to naught.
Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,
Perform thy duties faithfully,
And trust His Word: though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God never yet forsook in need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
Words:Georg Neumark, 1641 (Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten); first published in his Fortgepflantzer musikalisch-poetischer Lustwald (Jena, Germany: 1657). Catherine Winkworth translated the words from German to English in 1855, and published them in the Chorale Book for England, 1863.
Music: Neumark, Georg Neumark, 1641 (MIDI, score). The tune is said to have been used for 400 different hymns.
http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/f/ifyouwil.htm
Things appeared desperate for Georg Neumark. Walking cross country in the early Autumn of 1641 to begin his studies at the University of Konigsberg, the young German scholar was robbed of virtually everything he owned. With no money left to pay for food or classes, George had to drop out of college and look for work. He was hungry, poorly clothed, forced to take whatever shelter he could find as the cold weather came on.
He went back to Magdeburg but could find no work there. However, he made friends easily, and they pointed him to different cities. But he had no more success in the next three cities he tried: Luneburg, Winsen or Hamburg. He passed on to Keil. The chief pastor of Keil, Nicolaus Becker took an interest in Georg. Like Georg, he was from Thuringia. However, he could find him no immediate work. It was now December. What was Georg to do?
At this darkest moment, a miracle happened. A tutor in a prominent family fell into disgrace and fled. Nicolaus Becker recommended Georg for the position and he was hired. Georg’s response was to burst into a hymn of praise, “on that very day.”
If thou but suffer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength, whate’er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days….
Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,
Perform thy duties faithfully,
And trust His Word: though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God never yet forsook in need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
We remember George Neumark mainly because of that one hymn and the tune he composed for it. For two years he worked and saved his money, finally getting together enough to enter University. In 1646 he again lost everything he owned, this time to a fire.
However, he was able to complete his studies and return to his homeland. There Duke Wilhelm II of Sachse-Weimar recognized his merits and gave him a trusted position.
Georg went blind shortly before he died, but the court allowed him to keep his jobs with their badly-needed income right to the end. He died on this day, July 18, 1681, having turned 60 shortly before. He had performed his part faithfully and God did not forsake him, bearing him through the evil days.
Bibliography:
- Covert, William Chalmers and Laufer, Calvin Weiss, editors. Handbook to the Hymnal. (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, 1936).
- “Georg Neumark.” http://www.cyberhymnal.org
- Haeussler, Armin. The Handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. St. Louis, Missouri: Eden Publishing, 1952.
- Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
The Vine Vigil 