Affliction

896 C. M.
The benefit of affliction

LORD, when to thee my sinking soul
   Did in affliction fly;
   Thy mercy did my griefs control,
   And all my wants supply.

2 How oft, when dark misfortune’s band
   Around their victim stood,
   The seeming ill, at thy command
   Hath changed to real good!

3 The tempest that obscured the sky
   Hath set my spirit free
   From earthly care and sensual joy,
   And turn’d my thoughts to thee.

4 Affliction’s blast hath made me learn
   To feel for others’ wo;
   And humbly seek, with deep concern,
   My own defects to know.

5 Then rage, ye storms ; ye billows, roar;
   My heart defies your shock:
   Ye make me cling to God the more,-
   To God, my shelt’ring rock.
                        Anonymous
                        Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)