Gadsby Hymn 281. Author: William Cowper. Tune 'Ruth', Psalter 110. "The Lord will happiness divine".

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform".
No doubt unbelief is a sin (John 3:18,19, Mark 16:16, James 1:6), yet many of the Lord’s people struggle with doubts and fears (Judges 6:39, Luke 1: 18, John 20:27). The temperaments and circumstances of the Lord’s people can make them susceptible to these afflictions. Ecclesiastes 7:7 tells us "Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad..." and the afflictions of Jeremiah and Job led them to unreasonable conclusions (Jeremiah 20:7-18, Job 3:1). William Cowper, who wrote this hymn, struggled with severe depression throughout his life. Prior to his conversion he made several attempts to end his life and spent time in a mental asylum. After his conversion there were periods in his life where he greatly feared that his conversion was not genuine and that he was a reprobate. Thankfully, he also enjoyed periods of great encouragement. Perhaps William Cowper’s most famous hymn is “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform” which he titled ‘Light shining out of darkness’. Cowper’s experiences uniquely enabled him to provide comfort to pilgrim’s struggling with similar afflictions.
• "God moves in a myster...
J. C. Philpot (Ears from Harvested Sheaves, July 29):
"And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground." Judges 6:39, 40.
Many of the Lord's people labour under doubts and fears, questionings and suspicions as to the reality of the work of grace upon their hearts; whether their convictions were not merely convictions of natural conscience, and whether their joys have been anything else but the joys of the hypocrite. "O," they say, "what would I not give to have a divine testimony that the blessed Spirit was leading me in the right path!" It is through these very doubts that the evidence is obtained. Doubts lead to cries and groans after a divine testimony; and in answer to these cries the heavenly witness is given. A man without doubts is without testimonies. Doubts are to testimonies what the mortise is to the tenon, the lock to the key, the enigma to the solution. Testimonies are Ebenezers, "stones of help" (1 Sam. 7:12, marg.); but the stone must have a hole dug for it to stand in, and that hole is doubt. Doubts of salvation are to manifestations of salvation what hunger is to food, nakedness to clothing, a thunderstorm to a shelter, a gallows to a reprieve, and death to a resurrection. The one of these things precedes, prepares, and opens a way for the other. The first is nothing without the last, nor the last without the first. Thus, next to testimonies, the best thing is spiritual doubts. To know we are right is the best thing; to fear we are wrong is the second best. To enjoy the witness of the Spirit is the most blessed thing this side of the grave; to pant after that enjoyment is the next greatest blessing. I am speaking, mind, only of spiritual doubts; that is, doubts in a spiritual man, for natural doubts are as far from salvation as natural hopes. The path through the valley of Baca is "from strength to strength," that is, according to the eastern mode of travelling, from one halting-place to another, where wells are dug, and "the rain filleth the pools" (Ps. 84:6, 7). We do not learn either God or ourselves, sin or salvation, in a day. The question is not so much whether you have much faith, but whether you have any. It is not quantity, but quality; not whether you have a very great religion, but whether you have any at all. A grain of true faith will save the soul; and I have known many, many seasons when I should have been glad to feel certain that I had the thousandth part of a grain. A grain of mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds; and even faith as small as that can move mountains. Happy is he that has one divine testimony to his eternal interest in the electing love of the Father, in the atoning blood and justifying righteousness of the Son, and in the divine teachings of the Holy Spirit.
Gadsby Hymn 281:
1
The Lord will happiness divine
On contrite hearts bestow;
Then tell me, gracious God, is mine
A contrite heart, or no?
2
I hear, but seem to hear in vain;
Insensible as steel;
If aught is felt, ’tis only pain,
To find I cannot feel.
3
I sometimes think myself inclined
To love thee, if I could;
But often find another mind,
Averse to all that’s good.
4
My best desires are faint and few;
I fain would strive for more;
But when I cry, “My strength renew,”
Seem weaker than before.
5
Thy saints are comforted, I know,
And love thy house of prayer;
I sometimes go where others go,
But find no comfort there.
6
O make this heart rejoice or ache,
Decide this doubt for me;
And if it be not broken, break,
And heal it if it be.