Psalms, carefully suited to the Christian worship in the United States of America ‎#295b

295b. Complaint of heavy afflictions in mind and body

1 My righteous Judge, my gracious God,
Hear when I spread my hands abroad,
And cry for succour from thy throne –
Oh! make thy truth and mercy known.

2 Let judgment not against me pass;
Behold thy servant pleads thy grace –
Should justice call us to thy bar,
No man alive is guiltless there.

3 Look down in pity, Lord, and see
The mighty woes that burthen me;
My wasting life draws near the grave;
Make bare thine arm – thy servant save.

4 I dwell in darkness and unseen –
My heart is desolate within;
My thoughts in musing silence trace
The ancient wonders of thy grace.

5 Thence I derive a glimpse of hope,
To bear my sinking spirits up;
I stretch my hands to God again,
And thirst like parched lands for rain.

6 For thee I thirst, I pray, I mourn –
When will thy smiling face return?
Shall all my joys on earth remove,
And God forever hide his love?

7 My God, thy long delay to save,
Will sink thy pris'ner to the grave;
My heart grows faint, and dim mine eye;
Make haste to help before I die.

8 The night is witness to my tears,
Distressing pains, distracting fears;
Oh! might I hear thy morning voice,
How would my weary powers rejoice!

9 In thee I trust, to thee I sigh,
And lift my weary soul on high;
For thee sit waiting all the day,
And wear the tiresome hours away.

10 Break off my fetters, Lord, and show
The paths in which my feet should go;
If snares and foes beset the road,
I flee to hide me near my God.

11 Teach me to do thy holy will,
And lead me to thy heav'nly hill:
Let the good spirit of thy love
Conduct me to thy courts above.

12 Then shall my soul no more complain,
The tempter then shall rage in vain;
And flesh, and sin, my foes before,
Shall never vex my spirit more.

Text Information

• First Line: My righteous Judge, my gracious God
• Title: Complaint of heavy afflictions in mind and body
• Meter: Long Metre
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1791
• Scripture:
  Psalm 143

Tune Information

(No tune information)