Kind and Merciful God - A Favorite Hymn

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I heard from one of our pastors that God deals with His children in different ways whenever they wander, go far and keep on turning their backs on Him. God may shower more goodness, bestow discipline or decide to just take you away. Goodness - this has always been God's way of reminding me that I have wandered far enough and it's now time to come back.

Kind and Merciful God

Kind and merciful God, we have sinned in Your sight,
We have all wandered far from Your way;
We have followed desire, we have failed to aspire
To the virtue we ought to display.

Kind and merciful God, we’ve neglected Your Word
And the truth that would guide us aright;
We have lived in the shade of the dark we have made,
When you willed us to walk in the light.

Kind and merciful God, we have broken Your laws
And in conduct have veered from the norm;
We have dreamed of the good, but the good that we could
We have frequently failed to perform.

Kind and merciful God in Christ's death on the cross
You provided a cleansing from sin;
Speak the words that forgive that hence-forth we may live
By the might of your Spirit within.

Kind and merciful God, bid us lift up our heads
And command us to rise from our knees;
May our hearts now be changed and no longer estranged,
Through the power of Your pardon and peace.

Bryan Jeffery Leech (1973)