November 27, 2005

Have faith in God –
Free grace! Free grace! we cry;
Have faith in God –
Free grace brings sinners nigh;
Have faith in God –
Free grace means TRUST, not TRY.
Have faith, dear friend, in God..

Thanks to God

August Ludvig Storm, 1862-1914
Translated from Swedish to English by Carl Ernest Backstrom, 1901-?

    Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19. 20.

    August Storm, the author of Thanks to God, lived most of his life in Stockholm, Sweden. As a young man he was converted to Christ in a Salvation Army meeting. Soon he joined the Salvation Army Corps and in time became one of its leading officers. He wrote this hymn's text for the Army publication, Stridsropet (The War Cry), on December 5, 1891. The original Swedish version had four stanzas, with each verse beginning with the word tack "thanks", having a total of 32 "Thanks" in all. The gratitude expressed to God ranges from the "dark and dreary fall" to "the pleasant, balmy springtime", "pain as well as pleasure", "thorns as well as roses".
    These words have come from the heart of one who lived and practiced what his lips and pen proclaimed.

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heavenly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

Have Faith in God by H.M.S. Richards, Used by Permission