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Where Is My God, My Joy, My Hope?

Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts… — 2 Peter 1:19

Where is my God, my joy, my hope,
The dear Desire of nations, where?
Jesus, to Thee my soul looks up,
To Thee directs her morning prayer;
And spreads her arms of faith abroad,
T’embrace my hope, my joy, my God!

Mine eyes prevent1 the morning ray,
Looking and longing for Thy word:
Come, O my Jesus, come away,
And let my heart receive its Lord;
Which pants and struggles to be free,
And breaks to be detain’d from Thee.

Appear in me, bright Morning Star,
And scatter all the shades of night!
I saw Thee once, and came from far,
But quickly lost the transient light:
And now again in darkness pine,
Till Thou throughout my nature shine.

In patient hope I now take heed
To the sure word of promised grace;
Whose rays a feeble luster shed,
Faint glimm’ring through the darksome place,
Till Thou Thy glorious light impart,
And rise the Day-star in my heart.

Come, Lord, be manifested here,
And all the devil’s works destroy;
New, without sin, in me appear,
And fill with everlasting joy;
Thy beatific face display;
Thy presence is the perfect day.2

 

Lyre and Wreath, used under license from www.123rf.com (santi0103/123RF Stock Photo)

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Image credit: Copyright: santi0103/123RF Stock Photo
Used under license
  1. Prevent: used here in its older, archaic meaning of precede. The line simply means, “I arise before dawn.”
  2. This last verse is quoted by John Wesley in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection: Part 2.
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