In Him Confiding

Sometimes a light surprises
     A Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord who rises
     With healing on His wings.
When comforts are declining
     He grant the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after the rain.

In holy contemplation
     We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
     and find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow,
     We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown to-morrow
     Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing
     But He will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies,
     Will clothe His people too.
Beneath the spreading heavens
     No creation but is fed;
And he who feeds the ravens
     Will give his children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither
     Their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the fields should wither,
     Nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding,
     His praise shall tune my voice;
For while in Him confiding,
     I cannot but rejoice.

--William Cowper (1731-1800), English poet and hymnwriter, friend of John Newton, and influence on English Romantic poets

Allusion to Luke 12:22-32 in stanza 3; Isaiah 34:4 in stanza 4