{"id":2357,"date":"2013-03-05T06:49:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T10:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2013-03-06T19:13:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T23:13:12","slug":"richard-baxter-poem-on-facing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=2357","title":{"rendered":"Richard Baxter Poem on Facing Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

The “Poem of the Week” on my office door this week is Richard Baxter’s “Lord, It Belongs Not to My Care,” which I encountered while re-reading Packer’s Knowing God<\/em><\/a>. It is a powerful testimony of trusting God, come what may. The hymn was published in 1681 in Baxter’s\u00a0Poetical Fragments,<\/em> where it is accompanied by this notation, “This Cov\u00ade\u00adnant my dear Wife in her for\u00admer Sick\u00adness sub\u00adscribed with a Cheer\u00adful will.” This affirmation of trust, then, was not an idle abstract thought for Baxter, but one rooted in the real challenge of facing death.<\/p>\n

Lord it belongs not to my care
\nWhether I die or live;
\nTo love and serve Thee is my share,
\nAnd this Thy grace must give.<\/b><\/p>\n

If life be long, I will be glad,
\nThat I may long obey;
\nIf short, yet why should I be sad
\nTo welcome endless day?<\/b><\/p>\n

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
\nThan He went through before;
\nHe that unto God\u2019s kingdom comes
\nMust enter by this door.<\/b><\/p>\n

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet
\nThy bless\u00e8d face to see;
\nFor if Thy work on earth be sweet
\nWhat will Thy glory be!<\/b><\/p>\n

Then I shall end my sad complaints<\/b>
\nAnd weary sinful days,
\nAnd join with the triumphant saints
\nThat sing my Savior\u2019s praise.<\/b><\/p>\n

My knowledge of that life is small,<\/b>
\nThe eye of faith is dim;
\nBut \u2019tis enough that Christ knows all,
\nAnd I shall be with Him.<\/b><\/p>\n

-Richard Baxter<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “Poem of the Week” on my office door this week is Richard Baxter’s “Lord, It Belongs Not to My Care,” which I encountered while re-reading Packer’s Knowing God. It is a powerful testimony of trusting God, come what may. The hymn was published in 1681 in Baxter’s\u00a0Poetical Fragments, where it is accompanied by this …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Richard Baxter Poem on Facing Death’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[86,153,261],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions\/2360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}