1 O love of God, how strong and true,
eternal and yet ever new,
uncomprehended and unbought,
beyond all knowledge and all thought.
2 O heavenly love, how precious still
in days of weariness and ill,
in nights of pain and helplessness,
to heal, to comfort, and to bless.
3 O wide-embracing, wondrous love!
we read you in the sky above;
we read you in the earth below,
in seas that swell and streams that flow.
4 We read you in the flowers, the trees,
the freshness of the fragrant breeze,
the song of birds upon the wing,
the joy of summer and of spring.
5 We read you best in him who came
to bear for us the cross of shame,
sent by the Father from on high,
our life to live, our death to die.
6 We read your power to bless and save
e'en in the darkness of the grave;
still more in resurrection light
we read the fullness of your might.
7 O love of God, our shield and stay
through all the perils of our way;
eternal love, in you we rest,
forever safe, forever blest.
