Ona Ara L'Olorun Wa/God Moves in a Mysterious Way

Words: Will­iam Cow­per
Ona ara l' Olorun wa
Ngba sise Re l' aiye;
A nri 'pase Re lor' okun,
O ngun igbi l' esin.

Ona Re enikan ko mo,
Awamaridi ni;
O pa ise ijinle mo,
O sin se bi Oba.

Ma beru mo, enyin mimo,
Orun t' o su be ni,
O kun fun anu: y'o  rojo
Ibukun sori nyin.

Mase da Oluwa l' ejo,
Sugbon gbeke re le;
'Gbat o ro pe O binu,
Inu Re dun si .

Ise Re fere ye wan a,
Y'o ma tan siwaju;
Bi o tile koro loni,
O mbo wa dun lola.

Afoju ni alaigbagbo,
Ko mo 'se Olorun;
Olorun ni Olutumo,
Y'o m' ona Re ye ni.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
Words: Will­iam Cow­per, in Twen­ty-six Let­ters on Re­li­gious Sub­jects, by John New­ton, 1774. It is re­port­ed­ly the last hymn Cow­per ev­er wrote, with a fas­cin­at­ing (though un­sub­stan­ti­at­ed) story be­hind it.

Cow­per oft­en strug­gled with de­press­ion and doubt. One night he de­cid­ed to com­mit su­i­cide by drown­ing him­self. He called a cab and told the driv­er to take him to the Thames Riv­er. How­ev­er, thick fog came down and pre­vent­ed them from find­ing the riv­er (ano­ther ver­sion of the story has the driv­er get­ting lost de­liber­ate­ly). After driv­ing around lost for a while, the cab­by fin­al­ly stopped and let Cow­per out. To Cowper’s sur­prise, he found him­self on his own door­step: God had sent the fog to keep him from kill­ing him­self. Even in our black­est mo­ments, God watch­es over us.

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