We Live Within Your Grace

1 We live, O Lord, within your grace, for you have been our dwelling place; 2 before the mountains came to be, you are true God eternally. 3 You say to children of the earth: “Return to dust, which gave you birth!” 4 A thousand years within your sight pass like a watch within the night, like yesterday when it is through, the briefest blink in all you view. 5 We grow like grass beneath the sun, 6 but wither when our day is done. 7 The fury of your wrath dismays! 8 Your light our secret sin displays! 9 Yet all our years end like a sigh. 10 Seventy, eighty years go by, yet is their span but toil and pain; soon they are gone, we fly away. 12 So teach us, Lord, to count our days; make wise our hearts to seek your ways. 13 How long, O LORD, till you return? How much, O LORD, for you we yearn! 14 Your steadfast love will satisfy and be our joy until we die. 15 Though evil days may grieve our soul, we trust that you will make us whole. 16 Lord, let your work to us be shown, your glory by our children known. 17 Your favor rest on us each day; and prosper all our work, we pray. – Stephen P. Starke, alt.