Comment on a Hymn

'Sweet Hour of Prayer'

Here is a hymn written by someone who fully believes in prayer. The time he spends to 'make all my wants and wishes known' is no empty ritual. It a time of respite from 'a world of care'. It is a time when our hymn-writer has 'found relief' and 'escaped the tempter's snare'. Prayer for him is a time when 'God my Savior shows His face'. And he is sure that his prayers will come 'to Him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless'. The title of the hymn is apt, at least as far as this brother is concerned.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father’s throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief

And oft escaped the tempter’s snare

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

The joys I feel, the bliss I share,

Of those whose anxious spirits burn

With strong desires for thy return!

With such I hasten to the place

Where God my Savior shows His face,

And gladly take my station there,

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

Thy wings shall my petition bear

To Him whose truth and faithfulness

Engage the waiting soul to bless.

And since He bids me seek His face,

Believe His Word and trust His grace,

I’ll cast on Him my every care,

And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!