As pants the hart for cooling streams,
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee
And Thy refreshing grace.
For Thee, my God, the living God,
My thirsty soul doth pine;
O, when shall I behold Thy face,
Thou majesty divine?
Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still; and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him Who is thy God,
Thy health’s eternal spring.
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God Whom we adore,
Be glory as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
About the writer: Nahum Tate, the English poet, was the son of an Irish clergyman and was born in Dublin in 1652. After his graduation from the University of Dublin he settled in London and entered upon a literary career. He soon won reputation as a poet and, in 1692, he became Poet Laureate. In 1696 he published the Psalms of David Fitted to the Tunes Used in the Church, a work that became a standard in the Anglican church for centuries. He died in 1715.
Key Verse: As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. –Psalm 42:1