Today’a hymn comes from Samuel Rodigast, a German philosophy teacher at the University of Jena in the late 1600s. Originally written in German, many of us will recognise the song translated by Catherine Winkworth as “Whatever My God Ordains Is Right”, however the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal has the alternative translation below; slightly different words and yet still a great reminder. Enjoy!
What God ordains is always good;
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed in ev’ry need
knows well how He will shield me;
to Him, then, I will yield me.
What God ordains is always good;
He never will deceive me.
He leads me in His righteous way,
and never will He leave me.
I take, content, what He has sent;
His hand that sends me sadness
will turn my tears to gladness.
What God ordains is always good;
His loving thought attends me;
no poison can be in the cup
that my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morning new
I trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.
What God ordains is always good;
He is my Friend and Father.
He suffers naught to do me harm
tho’ many storms may gather.
Now I may know both joy and woe;
some day I shall see clearly
that He has loved me dearly.
What God ordains is always good;
tho’ I the cup am drinking
which savors now of bitterness,
I take it without shrinking.
For after grief God gives relief,
my heart with comfort filling
and all my sorrow stilling.
What God ordains is always good;
this truth remains unshaken.
Tho’ sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm, for with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
so to my God I yield me.
Hymn of the Day 