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You have selected: WHEN, O GOD, OUR FAITH IS TESTED (words by Fred Kaan) from the Ron Klusmeier Anthology. Subscribers may download arrangements using the links in the right hand column. Log in at left (first link beneath "The Catalogue") to activate the columns on the right.
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Lyrics and Author/Composer Comments are below.
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Lyrics:
When, O God, our faith is tested
and our hope is undermined,
when our love of living shrivels,
and we feel bereft and drained,
then we turn to you and cry
for your answer to our ‘why?’
With emotions taut to breaking,
hearts with hurt and havoc frayed,
reason by remorse diminished,
souls distraught as if betrayed.
God of bleakness and abyss,
why have you forsaken us?
As we question and accuse you
out of depths of being tried,
could it be, God! that in weakness
you yourself are crucified?
Are you with us in our grief?
Help us in our unbelief!
Author / Composer Comments
• Author Fred Kaan, from his book The Only Earth We Know (Stainer & Bell / Hope Publishing Co., 1999, page 80): “This hymn arose out of my strong emotional involvement with a young couple who tragically lost their 15-month old son in a drowning accident in Dubai. It brought back to me the death of my first-born son, and yet – having been through that experience – I had no glib words or easy answers for the parents; only my own rebelliousness to put alongside their distress. I did, however, manage to write this text which I was able to share with the mourners at the boy’s funeral.”