What God Ordains Is Always Good

Representative Text

1 What God ordains is always good;
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed in ev'ry need
knows well how He will shield me;
to Him, then, I will yield me.

2 What God ordains is always good;
He never will deceive me.
He leads me in His righteous way,
and never will He leave me.
I take, content, what He has sent;
His hand that sends me sadness
will turn my tears to gladness.

3 What God ordains is always good;
His loving thought attends me;
no poison can be in the cup
that my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morning new
I trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

4 What God ordains is always good;
He is my Friend and Father.
He suffers naught to do me harm
tho' many storms may gather.
Now I may know both joy and woe;
some day I shall see clearly
that He has loved me dearly.

5 What God ordains is always good;
tho' I the cup am drinking
which savors now of bitterness,
I take it without shrinking.
For after grief God gives relief,
my heart with comfort filling
and all my sorrow stilling.

6 What God ordains is always good;
this truth remains unshaken.
Tho' sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm, for with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
so to my God I yield me.

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #411

Author: Samuel Rodigast, 1649-1708

Samuel Rodigast, son of Johann Rodigast, pastor at Groben near Jena, was born at Groben Oct. 19, 1649. He entered the University of Jena in 1668 (M.A. 1671), and was in 1676 appointed adjunct of the philosophical faculty. In 1680 he became conrector of the Greyfriars Gymnasium at Berlin. While in this position he refused the offers of a professorship at Jena and the Rectorships of the Schools at Stade and Stralsund. Finally, in 1698, he became rector of the Greyfriars Gymnasium, and held this post till his death. His tombstone in the Koster-Kirche in Berlin says he died "die xxix. Mart. a. MDCCVII . . . aetatis anno lix." ...Two hymns have been ascribed to him, on of which has passed into English, viz.:--"Whatever God ordains is right.… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: What God ordains is always good
Title: What God Ordains Is Always Good
German Title: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan
Author: Samuel Rodigast, 1649-1708 (abr.)
Meter: 8.7.8.7.4.4.7.7
Source: Translation The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis, 1941, alt.
Language: English
Publication Date: 1993
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

WAS GOTT TUT

WAS GOTT TUT is usually attributed to Severus Gastorius (b. Ottern, near Weimar, Germany, 1646; d. Jena, Germany, 1682), who presumably composed the tune during a convalescence in 1675 (see above). The tune was published in Ausserlesenes Weimarisches Gesangbuch (1681). Educated at the University of…

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 10 of 10)
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Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #519

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Hymns to the Living God #324

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Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #411

Audio

Small Church Music #920

Text

Together in Song #109

TextPage Scan

Christian Worship (1993) #429

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Christian Worship #844

Text

Christian Worship #845

Text

Lutheran Worship #422

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Lutheran Service Book #760

Include 4 pre-1979 instances
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