O Day of God, Draw Nigh

477 O Day of God, Draw Nigh

1. O day of God, draw nigh
   in beauty and in power;
   come with thy timeless judgment now
   to match our present hour.

2. Bring to our troubled minds,
   uncertain and afraid,
   the quiet of a steadfast faith,
   calm of a call obeyed.

3. Bring justice to our land,
   that all may dwell secure,
   and finely build for days to come
   foundations that endure.

4. Bring to our world of strife
   thy sovereign word of peace,
   that war may haunt the earth no more,
   and desolation cease.

5. O day of God, draw nigh
   as at creation's birth;
   let there be light again,
   and set thy judgments on the earth.
                         R. B. Y. Scott
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not a terribly popular hymn, occurring in under 50 hymnals, but quite an appropriate hymn for this year and this time of year.

To me the interesting thing is that it was written by the Old Testament scholar R.B.Y Scott. His book Relevance of the Prophets was used as a textbook (among other books) in my Old Testament Prophets class and his The Way of Wisdom was used (among other books) for my Wisdom Literature class.

Besides that, there is an award named after him, offered by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. While I was at Eisenbrauns, three of our books won the award.
</idle musing>