HYMN FOR PENTECOST 17 Entrust while on your journey/Great is thy Faithfulness, etc
- Gracia Grindal
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
English: Entrust while on Your Journey
German: Befiehl du deine Wege
Norwegian: Velt alle dine veier
Text: Paul Gerhard (1607-1674) Tune: Johann Crüger (1598-16)
1. Entrust, while on your journey,
All that which grieves your heart,
Into the care most faithful
Of him who rules the stars,
To him whose power governs
A way for clouds and air,
For he will also find you
The way he has prepared.
2. To God, whom you must trust in
To bless you here on earth,
Look to his works around you
So that your work has worth.
Your own consuming worries,
Your tears or grief or cares
Will not bring God to help you:
Go to the Lord in prayer.
3. Your faithfulness and mercy,
O Father, know and see
All that is good or hurtful
For all your children’s needs,
For what your will has purposed
You do, Almighty One,
And what your wisdom pleases
Is by your counsel done.
4. Ways you will find, yes always,
You never lack the might,
Your deeds are purest blessing,
Your path is purest light,
Your work cannot be hindered
Your labor never rests,
When you would give your children
All that would serve them best.
5. And even if all devils
Would try to hold their sway
It never can be doubted
That God will win the day.
What he himself created
And what he wants to be
Will in the end live always
Through all eternity.
6. Hope always, weary Christian,
Hope, never, never fear,
For God will grasp you out of
The pit of sheer despair.
God’s mercies will relieve you
Of your anxieties.
Wait patiently, his sunshine
With joy you soon will see.
7. In him, rest all your sorrows,
Give them a glad good night.
Let go of all that troubles
Your heart and causes fright.
So rest, God is the ruler
Of everything that is,
He governs well from heaven
And everything is his.
8. Him, him, let him now govern,
The wisest Prince whose ways
Will manage all things wisely
So you will be amazed.
When he, as is his nature,
Will rule with power and truth
And he will find solutions
For all that troubles you.
9. He may delay a season
And seem to let you go,
As though he had intended
To leave you all alone
And let you be suspended
In anxious groans of rue,
As though he had forgotten
His promises to you.
10. Will you stay true and faithful
To him in whom you rest,
Then he will yet deliver
You when you least expect.
Then he will lift your burden,
And set your spirit free.
You’ll see your sorrows ended
In glorious liberty.
11. Yes, soon, oh child most faithful!
You have your battle won!
With glory and thanksgiving
You’ve now received your crown!
For God himself has given
A palm in your right hand
And now you sing in heaven
With those victorious bands.
12. Bring it about, O Father,
Now end our pain and need.
And strengthen for our journey
Our weary hands and feet
And let your care surround us
Steadfastly on our way
As every step will lead us
Toward heaven’s brighter day.
Entrust to God your ways and hope in him, he will, yes, bring it
about. Psalm 37:5
Tr. Gracia Grindal 2007
REFLECTION
Jesus’ exchange with his disciples in Luke 17, is strange and takes some digging to get. The disciples want him to increase their faith and he tells them about a servant coming home from his daytime job, expected to do his evening duties as well, rather than get special treatment. What! Maybe the mustard seed parable helps—you don’t need much faith for it to be enough. Ultimately that should be encouraging for us. The issue isn’t whomping up more faith, the issue is going about one’s work faithfully and responsibly. That is enough. In the same way that his grace is sufficient for us in any situation, so also our faith whether great or small is sufficient. It isn’t how much, it is simply that it is there.
The Gerhard hymn above is about trust and believing in God’s care for us. Note how the first word in every stanza when combined become v. 5. “Entrust to God your ways and hope in him, he will, yes, bring it about.” That is why the hymn was sung for every occasion in the German and Scandinavian Lutheran traditions. Filled with good advice on living the faith, it teaches that faith is trusting in God, believing that his Son came to save us. From there on we are to live, strengthened by him for our journey. Quite simple. Maybe too simple Fortunately for us, as Jesus prayed once, “I thank you Father that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” Matthew 11:25.
The older I get and the more I know, the more I realize how really complicated I have made it, but how simple it really is. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Trust him.
HYMN INFO
There are way too many hymns for the lectionary lessons this time. For more on this great hymn by Paul Gerhard see
Great is thy faithfulness works with the Lamentations lesson—see here for a sweet memory of the first days of the pandemic and something about the hymn
LINKS
Entrust while on your journey
Iver Kleive De Unsynlige/Troubled Water 2008
Oslo Gospel Choir
Jars of Clay/Lift Up Your Head
Give to the Winds your Fears/John Wesley's translation
Great is thy Faithfulness
Cathedral singing
Veritas
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