Awake, my soul, in joyful lays,
And sing thy great Redeemer’s praise;
He justly claims a song from me,
His loving-kindness is so free.

He saw me ruined in the fall,
Yet loved me notwithstanding all,
And saved me from my lost estate,
His loving-kindness is so great.

Through mighty hosts of cruel foes,
Where earth and hell my way oppose,
He safely leads my soul along,
His loving-kindness is so strong.

So when I pass death’s gloomy vale,
And life and mortal powers shall fail,
O may my last expiring breath
His loving-kindness sing in death.

Then shall I mount, and soar away
To the bright world of endless day;
There shall I sing, with sweet surprise,
His loving-kindness in the skies.
                                                     Rev. Samuel Medley


I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.  Psalms 138:2

There are two beautiful thoughts brought out here; one is, “God’s condescension in thought;” the other, “his tenderness in action.”  These are both included in “lovingkindness.”  And both of these are shown by God to his own people.  He humbleth himself to behold the things of the children of men; he condescends to men of low estate.  Of the blessed Jesus it is said, that “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” 2 Cor. 8:9.  Who can tell the depths to which God condescends in loving thought?  We are told that the very hairs of our head are all numbered; and if the hairs of our head, then surely all else beside.  God, as the Heavenly Father, takes an interest in everything about his people; he takes this interest in matters which they think beneath his notice, or of which they, from their ignorance, do not know the importance.  The mother may draw whole stores of comfort from a realization of the condescending thoughtfulness of God.  He will be interested about her babe; if she commit it to him, he who made the universe will, with his infinite mind, think upon her cradle and the helpless creature that is rocked to sleep therein.  The sick man may draw whole stores of comfort from the same source, for he can believe the ONE by whom the body was fearfully and wonderfully made will think over the sufferings of that body, and alleviate them, or give strength for the endurance of them if they must be borne.  Condescension of thought marks all the dealings of God with his people.  And hard following upon it comes tenderness in action.  Now this “tenderness in action” is a great part of the lovingkindness of God; it is meet that a thoughtful mind and tender hand should go together in the perfection of love.  God is not only energetic, but tender also in action; he is the God of the dew-drops, as well as the God of the thunder showers; the God of the tender grass blade, as much as of the mountain oak.  We read of great machines, which are able to crush iron bars, and yet they can touch so gently as not to break the shell of the smallest egg; as it is with them, so is it with the hand of the Most High; he can crush a world, and yet bind up a wound.  And great need have we of tenderness in our low estate; a little thing would crush us: we have such bruised and  feeble souls, that unless we had One who would deal tenderly with us we must soon be destroyed.
                                                                                                                                 Philip Bennett Power