I Shall Dwell Forever

 

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Psalm 23:6)

*Lander's Peak

Rocky Mountains

(1863)

Albert Bierstadt

(1830-1902)

German American Landscape painter
of the American West
Picture courtesy/Wikimedia Commons

"I shall dwell forever"; amid this world of change,

Where our homesick spirits oft' feel sad and strange,

Where the vacant places shall never more be filled,

Where the ache of memory can never quite be stilled,

Where the silent voices echo through life's empty room,

Where the brightest skies of earth must know 

grief's cloud of gloom;

Is any promise sweeter in our Father's blessed Word?

"I shall dwell forever in the house of the Lord."

We shall dwell forever; we shall never more go out,

Never more be weary with wandering about;

Never more be seeking for a place in which to rest,

Never more be dreading "the stirring of the nest".

How our hearts are turning, turning ever as we roam

Toward the shining portals of our everlasting home!

Is any promise sweeter in our Father's steadfast word?

"I shall dwell forever in the house of the Lord."

We shall dwell forever where warfare never comes,

Shrilling of the trumpets or boding roll of drums;

In a quiet resting place and in a land of peace,

Where all pain and sorrows forevermore shall cease,

In that abiding city of the rainbow-jeweled wall,

Set on sure foundations that shall never shake or fall.

Oh, the joy of looking past the things that pass away

To a habitation where our tired feet may stay!

Is any promise sweeter in all our Father's Word?

"I shall dwell forever in the house of the Lord."

"For here we have no permanent city, but we are
looking for the one which is to come."
(Hebrews 13:14)

"I Shall Dwell Forever"
Annie Johnson Flint
(1866-1932)
Prolific Christian poetess 
and writer

*In 1859, Albert Bierstadt accompanied explorer and future Civil War General Frederick W. Lander
on a western expedition to what is now present day Wyoming.  After his return, the artist
painted a sweeping landscape of the ruggedly beautiful Rocky Mountains there.

Following the war time death of Union General Lander from complications of pneumonia, 
 the artist named the mountain in the painting "Lander's Peak" in memory of his friend.