About the Hymn
What marks the Psalms is their stark honesty. They openly confess guilt and weakness. They swell in gratitude and unfettered praise. That kind of transparency is noble. But they also cry out in the basest human emotions of frustration and anger. Those thoughts are more difficult for us to express comfortably.
When the church sings the psalms, we often sing edited versions, with harsher thoughts like this one deleted: “Daughter Babylon . . . happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (Psalm 137:8-9).
This hymn is based closely on Psalm 43 (which some ancient manuscripts combine with Psalm 42). Here David cries out to God—or rather, to the empty sky: “Where are you? Have you rejected me? My enemies are being completely unfair—and they’re winning! Vindicate me! You’re my stronghold, and yet you are doing nothing!”
It feels disrespectful to sing these words, and yet we have to admit that sometimes this is exactly what we feel. So this hymn text does include paraphrases of those difficult thoughts:
You meet my sighs and cries with only silence.
Why have you turned your loving face away?
I thought, O God, your strength would be my shelter
In this relentless battle with my foes.
Their fight is fierce, and I am near surrender;
I don’t know how much longer I can hold.
In Psalm 43, David then makes a pivot, replacing his frustration with a humble request: “Send your light and your truth” to lead me—lead me out of this horrible predicament; lead me out of the darkness of this depression and anxiety; lead me to your altar, your place of worship.
Finally, David turns his frustration on himself, scolding himself for the dark thoughts he began with: “Why are you so depressed, my soul? That’s enough! Put your hope in God!”
With the exception of a few added details, the text follows closely the thoughts and feelings of the original.
May we too, strengthened by God’s light and truth, continue to sing our songs of hope, even when the night is dark, even when God is silent.
The hymn should be performed at a sustained♩ = ca. 68.
Text
1. O God, the night is long, my soul is restless;
I lie awake and dread the coming day.
You meet my sighs and cries with only silence.
Why have you turned your loving face away?
Refrain:
Still I will sing a melody in the silence,
a song of hope here in the cold unknown,
for you are God of day and deepest darkness,
you’re here, you’re here. I know I’m not alone.
2. I thought, O God, your strength would be my shelter
in this relentless battle with my foes.
Their fight is fierce, and I am near surrender;
I don’t know how much longer I can hold.
Refrain:
Still I will sing . . .
3. Reveal your Word to me, my God and Savior,
to lead me out of darkness into light.
Your Word is both my candle and my compass
to navigate the wilds of the night.
Refrain:
So I will sing . . .
4. Here is the myst’ry of this earthly journey:
though rough and narrow are the roads I roam,
my God is both the one who walks beside me
and God’s the one who waits for me at home.
Refrain:
So I will sing . . .
5. Enough, my soul! Enough of woe and worry!
Place all your cares on God, who cares for you.
Although your eyes of faith are weak and weary,
God’s watchful eye is ever guarding you.
Refrain:
So I will sing . . .
6. Then let us go to meet God at the altar.
Praise God with harp, piano, and guitar.
The saints and angels join our happy anthem,
this psalm of joy that’s rising in our hearts.
Refrain:
Yes, I will sing . . .
© 2017 Laurie F. Gauger
Lectionary Reading
Year A, Season after Pentecost, Proper 26 (31): Psalm 43
Vindicate me, my God,
and plead my cause
against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are
deceitful and wicked.
You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?
Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
