Traditional Hymns
By Gracious Powers
By Gracious Powers
Listen to:
By Gracious Powers (.midi) By Gracious Powers (.mp3) By Gracious Powers Bells Version (.mp3)
1. By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered, And confidently waiting, come what may, We know that God is with us night and morning And never fails to greet us each new day.
2. Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented, Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear; O give our frightened souls the sure salvation For which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.
3. And when this cup You give is filled to brimming With bitter suffering, hard to understand, We take it thankfully and without trembling, Out of so good and so beloved a hand.
4. Yet when again in this same world You give us The joy we had, the brightness of Your sun, We shall remember all the days we lived through, And our whole life shall then be Yours alone.
Story of the hymn By Gracious Powers
"By Gracious Powers" was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a poem during his imprisonment by the Nazis in December 1944. It became one of the most poignant hymns of the 20th century, expressing deep faith and hope amid suffering and uncertainty.Origin and Context
📅 Date written: December 31, 1944 — New Year’s Eve📍 Location: Gestapo prison bunker in Berlin
✍️ Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor and theologian
📜 Original title: Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen ("By Gracious Powers So Wonderfully Sheltered")
Bonhoeffer wrote this poem as a New Year’s message to his fiancée and family while imprisoned for his resistance to the Nazi regime. It was his final theological work before being executed in April 1945
