We Trust in You

We sang this last Sunday at church and I loved the words. This is a beautiful reminder as we begin a new year to trust in the Lord.

We trust in you

We trust in you, our shield and our defender;

we do not fight alone against the foe:

strong in your strength, safe in your keeping tender

we trust in you, and in your name we go.

Strong in your strength, safe in your keeping tender,

we trust in you, and in your name we go.

We trust in you, O Captain of salvation,

in your dear name, all other names above:

Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,

our prince of glory and our king of love.

Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,

our prince of glory and our king of love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,

and needing more each day your grace to know;

yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,

'We trust in you, and in your name we go.'

Yes from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,

'We trust in you, and in your name we go.'

We trust in you, our shield and our defender;

yours is the battle-yours shall be the praise,

when passing through the gates of dazzling splendour,

victors, we rest in you through endless days.

When passing through the gates of dazzling splendour,

victors, we rest in you through endless days.

Edith G. Cherry

As I looked this up online, it seems that there are versions with rest and versions with trust. Either way it is a wonderful hymn as we begin a new year. I think that makes sense if we are trusting we can be resting and if we are resting we are trusting. Trust and rest do go together.

I read a bit about the author, Edith G. Cherry. She had polio as an infant and as a result walked with a crutch. She died at the age of 25. Most of the poems she wrote were written before she was 15. I paused and looked back on the words and realised the depth that she knew God and to be able to write the words she wrote. I am challenged to know God more, to trust him and to rest on him.

The version of this hymn, We Rest on Thee, was sung on January 8, 1956 by the five missionaries in Ecuador as they prepared to make contact with the Auca Indians.

Beth