Poetry and Song
125
“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee:
My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for
Thee,
In a dry and weary land, where no water is....
Thou hast been my help,
And in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” “
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God:
For I shall yet praise Him,
Who is the health of my countenance,
And my God.” “
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 63:1-7
, R.V.; 42:11; 27:1.
The same trust is breathed in the words written when, a dethroned
and crownless king, David fled from Jerusalem at the rebellion of
Absalom. Spent with grief and the weariness of his flight, he with his
company had tarried beside the Jordan for a few hours’ rest. He was
awakened by the summons to immediate flight. In the darkness, the
passage of the deep and swift-flowing stream must be made by that
whole company of men, women, and little children; for hard after them
[165]
were the forces of the traitor son. In that hour of darkest trial, David
sang:
“I cried unto the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me out of His holy hill.
“I laid me down and slept;
I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people,
That have set themselves against me around about.”
Psalm 3:4-6
.