God of my life, whose gracious power

Verse 1
God of my life, whose gracious power
Thro’ various deaths my soul hath led,
Or turn’d aside the fatal hour,
Or lifted up my sinking head;

Verse 2
In all my ways thy hand I own,
Thy ruling providence I see:
O help me still my course to run,
And still direct my paths to thee.

Verse 3
On thee my helpless soul is cast,
And looks again thy grace to prove:
I call to mind the wonders past,
The countless wonders of thy love.

Verse 4
Thou, Lord, my spirit oft hast staid,
Hast snatch’d me from the gaping tomb,
A monument of mercy made,
And rescu’d me from wrath to come.

Verse 5
Oft hath the sea confess’d thy power,
And gave me back to thy command:
It could not, Lord, my life devour,
Safe in the hollow of thy hand.

Verse 6
Oft from the margin of the grave
Thou, Lord, hast lifted up my head:
Sudden I found thee near to save;
The fever own’d thy touch, and fled.

Verse 7
But O! The mightier work of grace,
That still the life of faith I live,
That still I pant to sing thy praise,
That still my all I gasp to give!

Verse 8
Pluck’d from the roaring lion’s teeth,
Caught up from the eternal fire,
Snatch’d from the gates of hell I breathe,
And lo! To heaven I still aspire!

Verse 9
Whither, O whither should I fly,
But to my loving Saviour’s breast;
Secure within thy arms to lie,
And safe beneath thy wings to rest.

Verse 10
I see the fiery trial near,
But thou, my God, art still the same;
Hell, earth, and sin I scorn to fear,
Divinely arm’d with Jesu’s name.

Verse 11
I have no skill the snare to shun,
But thou, O Christ, my wisdom art:
I ever into ruin run,
But thou art greater than my heart.

Verse 12
I have no might t’ oppose the foe,
But everlasting strength is thine.
Shew me the way that I should go,
Shew me the path I should decline.

Verse 13
Which shall I leave, and which pursue?
Thou only my adviser be;
My God, I know not what to do;
But Oh! Mine eyes are fix’d on thee!

Verse 14
Foolish, and impotent, and blind,
Lead me a way I have not known,
Bring me where I my heaven may find,
The heaven of loving thee alone.

Verse 15
Enlarge my heart to make thee room,
Enter, and in me ever stay;
The crooked then shall strait become,
The darkness shall be lost in day!

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: "At the Approach of Temptation." Introduced in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), published by John and Charles Wesley (London: William Strahan, 1740). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 1 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1868), page 322.
Publishing: Public Domain