Your Father Knoweth - A Poem by Annie Johnson Flint

 

Your Father Knoweth

...for your Father knoweth what
things ye have need of...
Matthew 6:8

God knoweth the need of my life
For shelter and raiment and food;
In each trifling care of the day
The word of His promise is good;
He knoweth my thought from afar,
The wish that I never have told,
And every unspoken desire
His wisdom doth grant or withhold.

He knoweth the way that I take;
Each step of that way He hath planned;
And, walking through sunshine or storm,
I walk in the shade of His hand.
In deserts untrodden and drear,
Where foes in the darkness may hide,
He leaveth me never alone;
He sendeth me light and a guide.

God knoweth the need of my soul --
The trial that calls for His grace,
The weakness that leans on His strength,
The fear that looks up to His face.
He knoweth what sifting is best
To scatter the chaff from the wheat
And lay all my self-righteous pride
Low down in the dust at His feet.

He knoweth me -- yet He can love,
Can wait with love's patience divine,
My stubborn and arrogant heart
Its will to His own to resign;
He knoweth my frame is but dust;
He knoweth how much it can bear;
I rest in that knowledge supreme;
I trust in His power and care.

- Annie Johnson Flint -
[altered]

Psalm 139:1-6 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.