As once for Jonah, so the Lord
To soothe and cheer my mournful hours,
Prepared for me a pleasing gourd,
Cool was its shade, and sweet its flow’rs.
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To prize his gift was surely right;
But through the folly of my heart,
It hid the Giver from my sight,
And soon my joy was changed to smart.
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While I admired its beauteous form,
Its pleasant shade and graceful fruit;
The LORD, displeased, sent forth a worm,
Unseen, to prey upon the root.
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I trembled when I saw it fade,
But guilt restrained the murm’ring word;
My folly I confessed, and prayed,
Forgive my sin, and spare my gourd.
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His wondrous love can ne’er be told,
He heard me and relieved my pain;
His word the threat’ning worm controlled,
And bid my gourd revive again.
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Now, Lord, my gourd is mine no more,
’Tis thine, who only couldst it raise;
The idol of my heart before,
Henceforth shall flourish to thy praise.
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I was unaware of Newton’s Hymn “The Gourd”
The depths of Newtons spiritual wisdom and insights always amaze me. I have always loved his quote about the gourd. He said: “Oftentimes the Lord sends us someone or something to our comfort and edification. But erelong we forget that this friend is only a channel of God’s conveyance. True comfort is to come from God Himself. To remind us of this the stream is dried up, the friend is torn away by death or removed far from us…we knowest not why. The true reason is that when we rejoiced amiss in our gourd, the Lord, for our good, sent a worm to the root of it!”
The Psalmist David wrote: “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is FROM HIM.” Psalm 62:5