Glorious Things

Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God:
He whose word cannot be broken
Formed thee for His own abode:
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's wall surrounded,
Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters, 
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.
Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age!

Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear

For a glory and a covering,
Showing that the Lord is near!
Thus deriving form their banner
Light by night and shade by day,
Safe they feed upon the manna
Which He gives them when they pray.

This hymn by John Newton happened to be Stonewall Jackson's favorite.  One morning in Shenandoah Valley, Jackson woke his tired soldiers by singing this hymn.  Unfortunately, as great a general Jackson was, he was that poor a singer.  So, the day after a 52 mile march, soldiers had to awake to this hymn, only off-key with a voice that could not fine a tune.  Of course, Austrians know this Franz Haydn tune for years, using it as their national anthem before WWII.

Again, I'm looking at a hymn that finds refuge in the Lord.  I absolutely love the last stanza.  "Thus deriving from their banner/ Light by night and shade by day, / Safe they feed upon the manna / Which He gives them when they pray."  The Lord gives us the things we need.  It may not be the things we want, but we are never out from under God's banner.  In the depths of our sin, the Lord lights the way to Him.  The Lord sustains His people.  Usually, it is when I try to sustain myself that I get into trouble.  But, despite of that, the Lord is amazingly good to me.  So, I love this hymn.  It fulfills the promise of the title, by speaking glorious things of the Lord.