Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Open Your Bible
Proverbs 3:5-12, Romans 8:26-30, 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, Hebrews 9:11-14
BY Kaitlin Wernet
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:5-12, Romans 8:26-30, 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, Hebrews 9:11-14
I don’t have just one sweet tooth. I have a mouth full of them. But don’t tell my dentist, because the mere mention will probably pre-qualify me for a shiny set of dentures down the road. Chocolate chip cookie dough, funnel cakes with powdered sugar, sour gummies that make your mouth pucker—I’m here for all of it.
Candy, along with other types of “sweets,” like newborn kittens and handwritten notes, are indulgences, unnecessary delights. But when Louisa Stead wrote the hymn, “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” I don’t think it was in response to cotton candy swirls or a beautiful stroll in the park.
In fact, it was a very tragic day at Long Island Sound. What began as a perfectly sunny morning for Louisa, her husband, and their young daughter, Lily, quickly turned into the unfortunate. They sat on the embankment together enjoying a picnic lunch when, all of a sudden, they were interrupted by the sights and sounds of a young boy drowning in the water. Louisa’s husband jumped in after him, but neither the boy nor the man attempting to rescue him survived. Walking away from the scene a grieving widow and single parent, Louisa’s circumstances were anything but sweet. Yet, these are the words she chose to write:
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!
When our lives reflect the brokenness of this world, it is then that we see trusting Jesus for what it truly is: an absolute necessity. We need Him, but His trustworthiness is what makes trusting Him with our need so much sweeter.
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus when our worlds are spinning deliciously on their centers, when we’re steady and our sights are set on sugary delights we don’t need. It is sweet to trust in a God who desires to give His children abundantly good things. And ‘tis so sweet to trust in Jesus when everything has fallen apart and nothing resembles the life we’re used to, when we’re disoriented and unable to fix our attention on anything but present pain. It is sweet to trust in Jesus, who identifies with our sufferings and carried them for us in His body and to the cross.
While I would never wish Louisa’s loss on anyone, her story lends credibility to those of us (all of us, really) who have felt similar pain, giving us the confidence to proclaim the kindness of our God, even when our circumstances feel anything but kind. When she wrote this hymn, I don’t think Louisa was claiming that her grief had suddenly disappeared by trusting Jesus. Instead, what I hear in her words is the surprise, the sweet relief, that she could still trust Him, come what may. We can, too. O for grace to trust Him more!
‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Text: Louisa M. R. Stead, 1882
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take Him at His word;
just to rest upon His promise,
and to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!
O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me
neath the healing, cleansing flood! Refrain
Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace. Refrain
I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
and I know that Thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end. Refrain
56 thoughts on "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"
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I feel like the word “just” is so important in this song. When you have nothing in this world that makes sense it is so so sweet to just take Jesus at His Word. Nothing else just Jesus, only Jesus, simply Jesus and that is enough even on our darkest days and saddest moment. Read through the lyrics again with that perspective.
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Yes!
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My sister and brother in law had their fourth miscarriage today. They do not know the lord and this hymn could only make sense if they did. Please, I’d anyone feels moved to pray for them, pray they would find the lord through this and cling to the truths of this song.
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Praying for them!
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Lord of all troubles life brings, this hurts so so much. we know you knit each child together in the womb and you know us, you knew these babies and loved them and we know they are with you and are ok now. I pray strength for Allyson and her family. Hold her sister and brother in law in your hand, comfort them in their grief. You promised to be close to the broken hearted. Give them relief from the dreadful pain this grief causes, lead them through it, cover them with your love in a way that only you can do. Lord let them see you in this situation when they look back one day. I pray for their salvation, bring healing to their heart and peace.
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praying for them!
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This Saturday my church lost our assistant youth pastor. I’ve grown up with him my whole life, he’s like family. He was only 25 and left behind a young bride of 11 months. this was his favorite song. He led worship often and would sing this.
I don’t understand and I have wept all day but I’m so thankful I can trust Jesus. My heart breaks for his wife and family. For my church. He served God with all he had and made every moment count. I will choose to trust Jesus today and I will trust him for tomorrow when tomorrow comes. He is our strength and very present help in trouble.
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I’m sorry for your loss. I pray you keep on trusting daily and never walk from the path. You have encouraged me by sharing this comment and reminded me to be thankful for everything I have and for the people that I have around me which God has put us alongside.
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This was what I needed to pick my spirits up today. I’m very thankful for this reading.
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“We need him, but His trustworthiness is what makes trusting Him with our need so much sweeter.”
This idea confronted my heart this morning—how awful it would be to need a God whom we can’t trust, who doesn’t love us, who doesn’t include us in his ultimate plan. And yet, I often function as if this were who God is. What a perfect hymn to commit to memory to remind myself of these beautiful, redemptive truths.
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Please pray for my daughter as she and her husband meet Wednesday for mediation. They have five children ages 11 to 2 . This is not what my daughter wants .She wants her marriage healed.I just need to feel the peace of God.
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Praying Tammy..xx
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Prior to my reading my future daughter-in-law text me and told me her father was in hospital in critical condition and they were taken him into surgery at that time. She and her family are considering hospice. So please keep them in your prayers, her name is Dani. She and my son are also in the process of going through in vitro treatments. As I saw the title of this devotional and the song I thought how appropriate to what I found out. I this sound speaks to me in many ways. I have learned to trust in Jesus and He has gotten me through many different situations both good and bad. After reading the lyrics to the song I plan on texting Dani the first few lines of the first verse to help guide her through. Sisters in Christ thank you for prayers.
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Was given an extra half hour this AM that I didn’t expect and told myself “you should take this time to do the SRT for today…” but of course busied myself with other things… only to be DRIVEN to it this afternoon as my foundation was rocked and have no place else to turn but here for some Truth and hopefully some encouragement. It’s been a pretty consistent one thing after another the last few months and I was feeling like the ground was finally getting a little stable. Then got hit again today with something painful and unexpected. And no real direction, no comprehension of the lasting toll (emotionally and financially) this is going to take on me and my family. I want to trust Him again and again, it’s just rough. I’m hurt and thrown.
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Praying for you Heidi! We share a name and I am definitely often directed in prayer to certain devotionals (usually SRT!) and bible versus just as you were. It’s how God shows us His grace, provision, and presence and I hope you feel that today.
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