God of my life, to Thee I call,
Afflicted at Thy feet I fall;
When the great water floods prevail
Leave not my trembling heart to fail.
Poor though I am, despised, forgotYet God, my God, forgets me not;And He is safe and must succeedfor whom The Lord is sure to plead.
Friend of the friendless and the saint,Where should I lodge my deep complaint?Where but with Thee, whose open doorInvites the helpless and the poor!
That were a grief I could not bear,Didst Thou not hear and answer prayer;But a prayer hearing, answering GodSupports me under every load.
words by William Cowper
William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) was a young man plagued by severe, often disabling depression. He wrote many hymns that are known to this day.
He was mentored by none other than John Newton, author of Amazing Grace. John Newton was, by then, a pastor. But he was so moved by the grace of GOD that he took in this young man, often for years at a time, when he was incapacitated by his depression.
Imagine how difficult it must have been in that day to struggle with this problem without any of the antidepressants and other medications we have available to help us these days.
This man certainly had a deep love for Christ in the middle of a dark and difficult life!
For a more detailed and interesting biography on William Cowper, click here where you can either read or listen.
This is the only video version I could find of this song. It isn’t a very good quality, but i hunted everywhere. You can get an idea of the tune at least. I’m sorry I don’t have a better quality for you to hear.