“Be Still, my Soul!”

We recently sang a favorite hymn of mine – one that the Lord has used to minister repeatedly to me.

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone;
Sorrow forgot; love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Words: Katharina von Schlegel, 1752
Music: Jean Sibelius, 1899

This hymn was re­port­ed­ly the fav­or­ite of Er­ic Lid­dell, the ath­lete who be­came fa­mous in the 1924 Olym­pics for re­fus­ing to run on Sunday (as seen in Char­i­ots of Fire). Lid­dell lat­er became a mis­sion­ary in Chi­na and was im­pris­oned dur­ing World War II. He is said to have taught this hymn to others in the pri­son camp, where he event­u­al­ly died of a brain tu­mor.

You can see two more not-so-familiar stanzas at cyberhymnal.org.