Christ My Song - 1447
If belovèd, why belovèd?
(Thomas Kelly/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
If belovèd, why belovèd?
"For his great love wherewith he loved us."
(Ephesians 2,4)
1. If belovèd, why belovèd?
Solve this question he who can.
Was I not from God removèd
far as any other man?
Why, then, in his favour now?
Tell me if thou knowest how. PDF - Midi
2. 'Tis too hard for man – I know it;
'tis what angels cannot reach.
God, "the only wise," can show it:
'tis what he alone can teach.
He who spans the vaulted sky,
he can tell the reason why.
3. If the Lord has hid the reason,
and revealed the fact alone,
let me humbly wait the season,
when the secret may be known.
To be loved may satisfy,
though concealed the reason why.
4. Lord, if thou indeed dost love me,
this sufficient is alone;
things concealed, or things above me,
may with safety be unknown.
'Tis enough, enough for me,
if I am beloved of thee.
5. Yet there may arrive a season,
when the secret will be told;
when the Lord will show the reason,
and the mystery unfold.
Be it ours to wait till then,
though we know not where or when.
6. But the message of salvation
is to all – to all mankind.
In the gracious invitation
none excepted are, we find.
He who on the Son believes,
everlasting life receives.
Thomas Kelly, Hymns on various passages of Scripture, ca. 1853, Hymn 632.