Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. (Psalm xxxvi. 5-6.)
1.
If I could pace with measured tread
The trackless course the stars have run,
If I could sail my barque across
The sea of lights beyond the sun,
And if I came at voyage end
Unto the misty edge of things
And in the thund’rous overflow
Plunged o’er, whence the eternal springs,
Then greater still, O LORD, would be
The vast infinitude of Thee.
2.
Your steadfast love and loyal care
Are like the heavens o’er me spread;
Their spangled glories calm my fears
When darkness makes for me a bed.
Their constellations shape the script
By which in trial I construe
Your covenant of ceaseless grace
And mercies for me ever new.
3.
Your faithfulness arrayed on high
A bow of promise is to me,
An arch of varicolored Truth,
Your Word, my perfect panoply.
Above me tow’rs Your awesome Name;
Majestic is the glory cloud
That leads me on my weary way
Unto the place Your oath avowed.
4.
Your righteousness, like Ararat,
A landmark rises o’er the plain,
With snow-clad peaks of purity
Unsullied by the creature’s stain.
Since all Your ways and all Your acts
Are ever just and clean and right,
On Thee I stand, O Mighty Rock,
And doubt and fear are put to flight.
5.
Your judgments, like the sea’s expanse,
To sense and sight are all laid bare;
Your justice is the deep below
In which your suit you do prepare,
Where cryptic tides of rectitude
Impartial and discerning flow;
Unfathomed is the dread abyss
In which my secret thoughts You know.
6.
For height, nor depth, nor length, nor breadth
Can e’er avail to compass Thee,
Nor creature thing can e’er compare
With Your divine sublimity.
Could I an epic fortress build
Of steel and stone for my repose,
Could angel warriors stand without
With flaming swords against my foes,
Then swifter still, LORD, do I flee
To the infinitude of Thee.
by Matthew Hanna
Copyright © 2008 by the author
May be copied for church or personal use. All other rights reserved.