7

The Lord Will Provide

I

Though troubles assail,
And dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail,
And foes all unite;
Yet one thing secures us,
Whatever betide,
The Scripture assures us
The Lord will provide.

II

The birds without barn
Or storehouse are fed;
From them let us learn
To trust for our bread:
His saints what is fitting
Shall ne’er be denied,
So long as ’tis written,
The Lord Will provide.

III

We may, like the ships,
By tempests be tost
On perilous deeps,
But cannot be lost:
Though Satan enrages
The wind and the tide,
The promise engages
The Lord will provide.

IV

His call we obey,
Like Abr’am of old,
Not knowing our way,
But faith makes us bold:
For though we are strangers,
We have a good guide,
And trust, in all dangers,
The Lord will provide.

V

When Satan appears,
To stop up our path
And fill us with fears,
We triumph by faith;
He cannot take from us,
Though oft he has tried,
This heart-cheering promise,
The Lord will provide.

VI

He tells us we’re weak,
Our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek
We ne’er shall obtain;
But when such suggestions
Our spirits have plied,
This answers all questions,
The Lord will provide.

VII

No strength of our own
Or goodness we claim;
Yet since we have known
The Saviour’s great name,
In this our strong tower
For safety we hide,
The Lord is our power,
The Lord will provide.

VIII

When life sinks apace,
And death is in view,
This word of his grace
Shall comfort us through:
No fearing or doubting
With Christ on our side⁠—
We hope to die shouting,
The Lord will provide.

Where this text comes from

First published in Olney Hymns (1779). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2] [3]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-15.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns, book-1.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L64.

Cite this poem

John Newton (1725–1807). “The Lord Will Provide.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/the-lord-will-provide/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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