Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 750)
1 Lord, thee I love with all my heart;
I pray thee, ne’er from me depart;
With tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share,
Yea, Heav’n itself were void and bare
If thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break,
My trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought;
Thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
Forsake me not! I trust thy Word.
2 Yea, Lord, ’twas thy rich bounty gave
My body, soul, and all I have
In this poor life of labor.
Lord, grant that I in every place
May glorify thy lavish grace
And serve and help my neighbor.
Let no false doctrine me beguile,
Let Satan not my soul defile.
Give strength and patience unto me
To bear my cross and follow Thee.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My God and Lord, my God and Lord,
In death Thy comfort still afford.
3 Lord, let at last thine angels come,
To Abr’hams bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me,
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, thy glorious face,
My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ,
My prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise thee without end!
Martin Schalling; Music: B Schmid, Orgeltabulaturbuch; Public Domain
Devotion
Verse 3 of the hymn calls to mind the scene in Luke 16 where the rich man sees Lazarus now with Abraham and no longer in agony. The hymn then invites us to request a share in the peaceful repose of heaven, much as Lazarus does in the story. However, this hymn takes us beyond the death of the soul rising to Abraham, it takes us into the body rising as well. When we awake from our death, our eyes will meet God and we will truly know that our Lord and Savior Lives. The hymn ends with a confident prayer that God will truly hear and receive appropriate praise without end.
Prayer
God, we praise you, and we ask that you hear our hearts and minds as we live our earthly lives. Amen.