Lyrics
The Lord Will Provide
These words are here to be learned and sung. Play the recording above and follow the highlighted line, or simply use the lyrics as a hymn text.
Verse
A father took the fire and wood,
His only son beside;
He answered as a father should:
“My son, God will provide.”
No lamb was there; a ram was caught,
Its horns held in the thorn;
And on that hill the LORD had wrought
The oath that he had sworn.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Verse
He rained down bread they could not name,
A morning’s worth, no more;
And ev’ry dawn it fell the same
Upon the desert floor.
For he that gathered much had naught
Above his brother’s share;
And he that gathered little brought
Enough, and none to spare.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Bridge
He did not spare his only Son,
But gave him up for all;
And shall he, having that begun,
Withhold a thing so small?
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Verse
He hid his prophet by the brook,
And there the ravens came —
The unclean bird the law forsook —
To feed him all the same.
And then the brook ran dry. He learned
What ev’ry servant must:
That when the brook itself is turned,
God has not broken trust.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Verse
A widow gathered sticks to burn,
Had meal enough for one;
She meant to eat and not return,
And die beside her son.
The barrel did not waste away,
The cruse of oil not fail;
Not full — but full enough each day
Until the rains prevail.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Bridge
He suffered them to hunger first,
And then he gave them bread;
The emptiness was not the worst —
It was the table spread.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Verse
Five barley loaves, two fishes small,
Among five thousand men;
He gave God thanks, and gave them all,
And gave, and gave again.
And when the multitude had fed,
Twelve baskets stood beside;
“Let nothing here be lost,” he said,
The Lamb who would provide.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Verse
He spreads a table in the sight
Of all that wish us ill;
He does not wait for safer light,
But sets it for us still.
They shall not hunger any more,
Nor thirst, nor faint, nor fear;
The Lamb shall lead them, and shall pour
The fountains running clear.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Bridge
The ram, the manna, and the meal,
The loaves upon the grass,
Were promises he came to seal,
And let the shadows pass.
Chorus
Provide, O LORD, our daily bread,
And teach us not to hoard;
By ravens and by widows fed,
We wait upon the Lord.
Music and lyrics: Public Domain / CC0 1.0 Universal · Sound recording: Public Domain / CC0 1.0 Universal.