Under God's Loving Care
At the age of twenty-six, Lina Sandell Berg was accompanying her father aboard a ship across Lake Vattern in Sweden en route to the city of Gothenburg. The ship unexpectedly gave a sudden lurch and Lina's father, a devout Christian, fell overboard and drowned before the eyes of his devoted daughter. From her broken heart she wrote a song that many of us have often sung. As you read the words, find all the lines that affirm Lina's confidence that her father died within the protection and loving care of God.
Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest
Every day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow'r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, your strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.
Remarkably, Lina had confidence that the death of her father, which many would simply ascribe to the random fate of a wind-blown ship, died under God's loving care. She could write, "The protection of His child and treasure, Is a charge that on Himself He laid." Far from seeing this incident as a cruel oversight on God's part, she saw in her father's death an expression of loving protection! On the human side, he died because of the unexpected high wave; on the divine side, he died because God wanted him home.
One Minute After You Die, Erwin W. Lutzer, Moody Publishers, copyright © 1997, "used with permission of the publisher." p. 125-126.