Our Refuge

Though darkness gather round our path,
     And angry clouds the sky deform, 
Yet doubt not, in its fiercest wrath, 
     God sits serene above the storm

We suffer, but He knows it all, — 
     Our fears, anxieties, and pain;
And Love, that notes the sparrow's fall, 
     No trial sends to us in vain.

He hears and heeds our feeblest cries, 
     And knows what lot for us is best;
In what He gives and what denies, 
     His care alike is manifest.

We choose, and He annuls our choice, 
     Because His eye discerns the end; 
And if He chide, 'tis with the voice, 
     The tender accents of a friend.

Then let us trust Him and obey,
     Through all life's trials yet to come;
Better than we He knows the way 
     That leads the pilgrim to his home.