1. Thou tender, gracious Father,
Who watches over me,
How shall I ever praise Thee,
How love and honor Thee?
Thou guidest me with caution
From every secret snare,
And ’neath Thy wings a refuge
I find in my despair.
2. With raiment, food and shelter,
Whate’er my needs imply,
For soul and body ever,
Do Thou in grace supply.
O Lord, I soon would perish
If aught Thou should exclude;
O could I love Thee better
And prove my gratitude.
3. In childlike, true obedience
Help me to do the right;
May precious be Thy statutes,
Thy yoke be pleasant light!
And when some hardship threatens,
A danger frightens me,
May Thou in all my trials
My present helper be.
4. Thy heart is all compassion,
With love it overflows;
Whate’er of ill betide me,
Thou knowest, and my woes.
Thou dost not sleep nor slumber,
By night nor thru the days;
Thine arms, almighty Father,
Enfold all time and space.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #6938
Caroline W. Sandell Berg (b. Froderyd, Sweden, 1832; d. Stockholm, Sweden, 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden."
"Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts.
Bert Polman
Go to person page >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files