Methinks I Stand Upon The Rock

1 Methinks I stand upon the rock
Where Balaam stood, and wondering look
Upon the scene below:
The tents of Jacob goodly seem,
The people happy I esteem,
Whom God has favored so.

2 The sons of Israel stand alone,
Jehovah claims them for His own,
His cause and theirs the same:
He saved them from the tyrant’s hand,
Allots to them a pleasant land,
And calls them by His name.

3 Their toils have almost reached a close,
And soon in peace they shall repose
Within the promised land:
E’en now its rising hills are seen,
Enriched with everlasting green,
Where Israel soon shall stand.

4 O Israel, who is like to thee?
A people saved, and called to be
Peculiar to the Lord!
Thy shield! He guards thee from the foe;
Thy sword! He fights thy battles, too;
Himself thy great reward!

5 Fear not, though many should oppose,
For God is stronger than thy foes,
And makes thy cause His own:
The promised land before thee lies,
Go up, and take the glorious prize
Reserved for thee alone.

6 In glory there the King appears;
He wipes away His people’s tears,
And makes their sorrows cease:
From toil and strife they there repose,
And dwell secure from all their foes,
In everlasting peace.

7 Fair emblem of a better rest,
Of which believers are possessed,
Beyond material space!
Methinks I see the distant shore,
Where sin and sorrow are no more;
And long to reach the place.

8 Nor shall I always absent be
From Him my soul desires to see,
Within the realms of light;
Ere long my Lord will rend the veil,
And not a cloud shall then conceal
His glory from my sight.

9 Sweet hope! it makes the coward brave;
It makes a freeman of the slave,
And bids the sluggard rise;
It lifts a worm of earth on high,
It gives him wings, and makes him fly
To worlds beyond the skies.

• MIDI file from The Cyber Hymnal #9812