Deliver Us, O Lord

[LYDIA WESTERN]

Deliver Us, O Lord
Deliver us, O Lord, from the snare of the fowler,
And silence every noisome pestilence.
Quench each fiery dart and take us hence,
To deeper rest from hour to hour.

Deliver us from fleshly strivings,
The torment of our restless souls,
That drives away our peace in God,
And leaves a soldier's sense of numbing.

Deliver us from hardened hearts,
That prides a stoic creed,
That numbly fights and numbly bleeds,
Away each Spirit's sense of love.

We would with Thee within the fight,
Rest within Thy Spirit, Lord Jesus.
Strength to soften, not to harden,
The heart that numbed through human might.

We would with Thee within the yoke,
Tread each mile patiently,
And never there assume to be,
Some mighty force by will envoked.

The wrath of man no righteousness envoked,
Though heaped the proof of words upon words.
Icy truth precisely incurred,
Upon the heart that wept and broke.

Keep us in Thy love, Lord Jesus,
Mingle truth and mercy there,
For our hearts, they proudly dared,
To fight for truth in carnal fever.

Teach us the mystery of resting fight,
Thy tender Spirit in our hearts,
That softens every numbing part,
And turns to rest our bitter might.

L.J.W