The Good Choice
Thou art my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep thy law.
Psa. cxix. 57.
Lo! my choice is now decided,
Now, with heart no more divided,
I devote to God my days;
Sin, to thee no more I’ll listen,
World, howe’er thy gauds may glisten,
Ne’er I’ll turn on thee to gaze.
Toys my heart away have carried,
Here and there I oft have tarried,
Now my purpose shall not swerve;
All my life to God I’ll tender,
To his will mine own surrender,
Day and night his statutes serve.
Lord, to Thee I yield sincerely
All that here I prize most dearly,
See, I nothing keep from Thee;
Search my reins and heart all over,
Should’st Thou there deceit discover,
Oh! remove it speedily.
No fatigue or pain declining,
All my heart to Thee resigning,
I will go where Thou dost lead;
If my every word and action
In thy sight give satisfaction,
Nothing more I then can need.
One thing first and only knowing,
Elsewhere not a thought bestowing,
Now I quit the paths I trod;
Stranger to the world’s vain pleasure,
Here I’ve no abiding treasure,
Hid my life with Christ in God.
Thou’rt the portion I’ll inherit;
Oh! let heart, and soul, and spirit
To thy service, Lord, be bow’d!
Thine henceforth, O blessed Saviour,
May I, in my whole behaviour,
Practise what my lips have vow’d.