Samuel Rodigast was a German philosophy teacher at the University of Jena in the late 1600s. While the circumstances that led him to write this hymn are not certain, it may be that a sick friend of his asked him to write a song for his funeral. Catherine Winkworth then went on to translate this hymn from German to English in the mid-1800s¹. I often have to remind myself that “whatever my God ordains is right” whenever I meet trials or face anxious situations.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still, whate’er He doth,
And follow where He guideth.
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall,
And so to Him I leave it all

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path;
I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, I’m drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew,
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet am I not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.

¹https://medium.com/@jamespoteetii/hymn-exegesis-whateer-my-god-ordains-is-right-b2f19f706c51