Whate'er My God Ordains is Right by Samuel Rodigast 1676

Born: Oc­to­ber 19, 1649, Gro­ben, Ger­ma­ny.

Died: March 29, 1708, Ber­lin, Ger­ma­ny.

Buried: Kloster Kirche, Berlin, Ger­ma­ny.

Son of a Luth­e­ran min­is­ter, Rod­i­gast at­tend­ed the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Je­na (MA 1671), then joined the phil­o­so­phy fa­cul­ty there. In 1680, he be­came con­rec­tor at the Grey­fri­ars Gym­na­si­um in Ber­lin. He de­clined ap­point­ments as a pro­fess­or at the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Je­na and rec­tor at schools in Stade and Stral­sund, choos­ing to stay in Ber­lin.

This song was translated from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­ther­ine Wink­worth, 1863, and others. Rod­i­gast wrote this hymn to cheer his friend Gas­tor­i­us, pre­cent­or at Je­na, who had b­ecome ser­i­ous­ly ill. Gas­tor­i­us not on­ly re­cov­ered, but went on to write the tune for Rod­i­gast’s words.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path:
I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morn anew
I’ll trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.