My Father and My Friend

God is kindly in His Nature.
He is gentle in His ways.
He is of tender compassion,
And He loves us all our days.

When He sees us in our weakness
He still bears us patiently,
Strengthens us within our spirits,
While He works to make us free.

When He sees us in our sorrow,
His dear tender heart will grieve,
As He whispers to us promises
That He will never leave.

In His love is Sovereign power.
He is able to elect.
And all those He has elected,
He is able to perfect.

He is good and He is holy,
And He cannot look on sin,
So He hides us in our Savior,
While He makes us pure within.

In the pureness of His nature,
He can nevermore be changed,
Yet He has devised Salvation,
So to bring back His estranged.

He does practice what He preaches,
For He loves His enemies,
And He makes of them His children,
And He takes them on His knees.

When He says "Forgive your brother
Many, many times a day"
Its because He is forgiving.
He wants us to be that way!

He sends rain upon the just
And on the unjust, we are told,
And the evil feel His sunshine.
These good things, He won't withhold.

And when wicked people curse Him,
He still fills their lungs with air,
And He gives them many blessings,
All of which they're unaware.

For His kindness to the evil
And unthankful demonstrates
Just how moderate His temper
And how much He tolerates.

He justifies ungodly people
Fully and for free,
And if He didn't do that,
Then… there'd be no hope for me!

Some people criticize God
Because evil is widespread,
But if He vanquished evil now,
The whole world would be dead!

God is sweet and kind and tender,
And He loves us to the end.
I'm so glad He is my Father,
And so glad He is my Friend!

June 5, 2015