“‘The Sun to Rule by Day’” by Gerhard Tersteegen (poem)

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Phil. 2:13

Thou sayest, “Fit me, fashion me for Thee.”
Stretch forth thine empty hands, and be thou still;
O restless soul, thou dost but hinder Me
By valiant purpose and by steadfast will.

Behold the summer flowers beneath the sun:
In stillness his great glory they behold;
And sweetly thus his mighty work is done,
And resting in his gladness they unfold.

So are the sweetness and the joy divine
Thine, O beloved, and the work is Mine.

Translated from the German by Frances Bevan, 1894

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In this poem God speaks to his beloved, urging her to cease her anxious striving to please him and to simply be present, soft, and open—to receive his love and its attendant sweetness and joy. The epigraph cites the apostle Paul’s encouragement to the church at Philippi that “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” but the title is taken from Psalm 136:8: “O give thanks unto the LORD . . . to him that made . . . the sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

The second stanza is also a biblical allusion, pointing to Matthew 6:27–29, in which Jesus asks rhetorically, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

As we rest in God, he shines his face on us and gladly grows us, beauties all.

(Related post: “The Avowal” by Denise Levertov)

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Gerhard Tersteegen (1697–1769) was a German Pietist preacher, writer, humanitarian, and hymnist. Self-taught in religious studies, as a young man he gave up a successful career as a merchant to live a simple life of personal devotion and public ministry. Known as “the physician of the poor and forsaken,” he opened his home in Mülhern—it became known as Pilgrim’s Hut—to all manner of needy folks, leading prayer services and dispensing food, medicine, and spiritual counsel. He also traveled the region preaching the gospel. His writings include the hymn collection Das geistliche Blumengärtlein (The Spiritual Flower Garden) (1729), a volume of Gebete (prayers) and another of Briefe (letters), and translations of the French mystics and Julian of Norwich. He is sometimes classified as a mystic himself because of his emphasis on intimacy with God.