Christ My Song - 1697
Is God for me? I fear not - My High Tower
(Paul Gerhardt/Frances Bevan/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
My High Tower.
"He only is my rock and my salvation:
he is my defence, I shall not be moved." (Psalm 62,6)
1. Is God for me? I fear not,
though all against me rise;
I call on Christ my Saviour,
the host of evil flies.
My friend the Lord Almighty,
and he who loves me, God,
what enemy shall harm me,
though coming as a flood? PDF - Midi
2. I know it, I believe it,
I say it fearlessly,
that God, the Highest, Mightiest,
for ever loveth me;
at all times, in all places,
he standeth at my side,
he rules the battle fury,
the tempest and the tide.
3. A Rock that stands for ever
is Christ my Righteousness,
and there I stand unfearing
in everlasting bliss;
no earthly thing is needful
to this my life from Heaven,
and nought of love is worthy,
save that which Christ has given.
4. Christ, all my praise and glory,
my Light most sweet and fair,
the ship wherein he saileth
is scatheless everywhere;
in him I dare be joyful,
a hero in the war,
the judgment of the sinner
affrighteth me no more.
5. There is no condemnation,
there is no hell for me,
the torment and the fire
my eyes shall never see;
for me there is no sentence,
for me has death no stings,
because the Lord who saved me
shall shield me with his wings.
6. Above my soul's dark waters
his Spirit hovers still,
he guards me from all sorrow,
from terror and from ill;
in me he works and blesses
the life-seed he has sown,
from him I learn the Abba,
that prayer of faith alone.
7. And if in lonely places,
a fearful child, I shrink,
he prays the prayers within me
I cannot ask or think;
in deep unspoken language,
known only to that Love
who fathoms the heart's mystery
from the Throne of Light above.
8. His Spirit to my spirit
sweet words of comfort saith,
how God the weak one strengthens
who leans on him in faith;
how he hath built a City,
of love, and light, and song,
where the eye at last beholdeth
what the heart had loved so long.
9. And there is mine inheritance,
my kingly palace-home;
the leaf may fall and perish,
not less the spring will come;
as wind and rain of winter,
our earthly sighs and tears,
till the golden summer dawneth
of the endless Year of years.
10. The world may pass and perish,
thou, God, wilt not remove –
no hatred of all devils
can part me from thy Love;
no hungering nor thirsting,
no poverty nor care,
no wrath of mighty princes
can reach my shelter there.
11. No angel, and no Heaven,
no throne, nor power, nor might,
no love, no tribulation,
no danger, fear, nor fight,
no height, no depth, no creature
that has been or can be,
can drive me from thy bosom,
can sever me from thee.
12. My heart in joy upleapeth,
grief cannot linger there –
while singing high in glory
amidst the sunshine fair;
the source of all my singing
is high in Heaven above;
the Sun that shines upon me
is Jesus and his Love.
Frances Bevan, Hymns of Ter Steegen and others 2, 1899, 96-100.
Translation of Paul Gerhardt's German hymn Ist Gott für mich, so trete.