Sunday Songs of Grateful Praise - Like A River Glorious

One  of my favorite hymns was written in the late eighteen-hundreds by an English lady named Francis Ridley Havergal. She wrote many well-known hymns, poetry and children's books.

While vacationing she became seriously ill with pneumonia and was not expected to live.  Her friends were amazed at how peacefully she received this information. She survived and later that year she wrote the hymn "Like a River Glorious". She pointed to the source of her perfect peace: "Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest."

Miss Havergal was a devout Bible scholar. She incorporated the truth of Scripture in this hymn where God promises "peace like a river." This hymn paints the picture of this peace. The hymn was first published in its present form with the name "Perfect Peace," in Hymns of Consecration and Faith in 1876.

This hymn has touched my heart all through my life - from my youth until now. I have sung it often when peace seems impossible. I have sung it joyfully as a statement of what I truly believe - God does us give His peace when we focus on Him!

 Like a river glorious
  Is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious
  In its bright increase.
Perfect, yet it floweth
  Fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth
  Deeper all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah,
  Hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised,
  Perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow
  Of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow,
  Never traitor stand.
Not a surge of worry,
  Not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry
  Moves the spirit there.

 Stayed upon Jehovah,
  Hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised,
  Perfect peace and rest.

Every joy or trial
  Falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial
  By the Sun of Love.
We may trust Him fully
  All for us to do,
They who trust Him wholly
  Find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest,
Finding, as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest.

You will keep in perfect and constant peace
the one whose mind is steadfast
[that is, committed and focused on You -
in both inclination and character],
because he trusts and takes refuge in You
[with hope and confident expectation].
Isaiah 26:3 (Amplified Bible)

You can hear the beautiful melody of this old hymn are recorded by one of my favorite Pacific Northwest musicians, harpist Bronn Journey, here.

With A Grateful Heart,
Adrienne