Guide Us, O, Thou Great Jehovah

“Guide us, O Thou great Jehovah . . . 


I am weak, but Thou art able;  
Hold us with Thy powerful hand.”  


This hymn has been running through my head lately.  The lyrics are a modified version of a hymn written in the 1700’s by a Welsh preacher, William Williams.  The words and music keep replaying in my head lately until I finally became aware enough of them to wonder why this particular hymn is stuck there.  Then the epiphany:  I have am surrounded by loved ones who are struggling with the supreme trials of their lives and who have been for some time.  It is my deep desire to share in the carrying of these burdens and thus lighten their loads but it seems I am worn thin and weary and my efforts have done little to help those I yearn to help.  I have been praying almost non-stop for direction as to what to say, what to do, how to be of real help.

Answers to prayers come in many ways.  The beginning of the answer to my most desperate prayers is contained in this hymn being sung in my mind.  “I am weak, but Thou are able.”   I have been trying to do all I can, and being weighed-down when all I can do is not enough. I, alone, can neither lift the burdens of others nor give them strength to carry them. There is much of mundane tasks that need doing that I can do, but where hearts need to be healed, I can trust in the love and wisdom of Our Father.  Our Father in Heaven, who knows and understands us intimately, can heal the hearts of his children and fill them with hope and perspective.   They are truly in his powerful hands.

Ezra Taft Benson explained: “I know the Lord lives.  I know that He loves us.  I know that apart from Him no one can succeed, but as a partner with Him, no one can fail.  I know that God can make a lot more out of our lives than we can.”