Hymn Spotlight: "Whate'er My God Ordains is Right"

Song Title: Whate'er My God Ordains is Right
Artist: Indelible Grace; Vocals: Matthew Perryman Jones
Album: Indelible Grace
Writer: Samuel Rodigast

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path:
I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morn anew
I’ll trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.

Why this hymn: Well, whenever I can, I'm going to try and match up the hymn and song spotlights with something else on the blog -- at least until I run out. Anyway, because of the discussion below on 1 Kings 22, I thought this would be a perfect time to spotlight this wonderful hymn as I thought of it often when pondering 1 Kings 22. To think, if it is true that whatever God ordains is right, and I certainly believe that it is, this truth can transform our thinking on many things: suffering, hardships, joys, how we interpret the Bible, etc. I know that I would hate to live in a world in which the one who controls it can do wrong.

Why I like it: First of all, I'm a big fan of what Indelible Grace is doing. Putting new music to new hymns and making them available is wonderful. I've been blessed so much to be able to listen to such wonderful music. The lead vocalist for this song on the first Indelible Grace CD is Matthew Perryman Jones, who I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of months ago, along with his wife Meghan. They really seem like great people, and Matthew is quite the singer. His new solo CD is pretty good, not hymns, but that's ok sometimes too. Anyway, what I love the most about this song is the powerful lyrics, written in 1676. It is quite often that a passage in the Bible or a circumstance in my life or a tragedy in the world makes people ponder on God and his role in all of it. Some may say God doesn't have a role in any of it, and some say God only has a role in the good things not the tragedies. But the Bible says that God has a hand in all of it and nothing happens without him allowing it. What this song brings out the most is that even in the toughest of times, God is behind it all and will not forsake those who are his.

Related Scripture: Genesis 45:5-7, Genesis 50:20

Favorite Line: "Whate’er my God ordains is right: Here shall my stand be taken; Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, Yet I am not forsaken." Those are some powerful words. I do think that a stand needs to be taken on this point, or one's faith may fail during the rocky or confusing times...and more than anything, know that God will work all things for his glory and will not forsake his own (unless you count Jesus, but yeah, that had to be done or we couldn't even have a relationship with God in the first place).

Response to 1 Kings 22: Yeah, that passage sure can be confusing, but if you believe the words in this song, your starting point becomes a whole lot easier in understanding things.