Infinitude

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 at voyage end I came
     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
     Like starry skies are o’er me spread,
Whose spangled glories calm my fears
     When darkness makes for me a bed.
Bright 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,
     In grandeur mounts above 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 gloom 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 yawns the dread abyss
     Wherein my secret thoughts You know.

6.
No height, nor depth, nor length, nor breadth
     Can e’er avail to compass Thee,
Nor can created thing 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, shall I flee
To the infinitude of Thee.

by Matthew Hanna

Copyright © 2011 by the author

May be copied for church or personal use. All other rights reserved.