Song in My Head -- Beneath the Cross of Jesus

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.

O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet,
O trysting place where Heaven’s love and Heaven’s justice meet!
As to the holy patriarch that wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior’s cross to me, a ladder up to heaven.

There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side
The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide
And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save
A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

Great lines: "O trysting-place where heaven's love and heaven's justice meet."
They couldn't be seen together in the light of day, but they can sneak away to meet at the cross. Cool.

"Two wonders I confess, the wonders of redeeming love and my own worthlessness." I love the juxtaposition of just how powerful the love of God is and just how equally powerful is my capacity to deserve its opposite.

The whole third verse. I hadn't seen that before today, and hadn't ever thought in those terms before. The cross is a sentry preventing those who pass by from falling into the abyss that lies beyond for those who ignore the warning.

"My sinful self my only shame. My glory all the cross." The cross of Christ is a place of death, shame, and guilt, but at the same time is a refuge from them. The world can keep whatever it has to offer, because the cross is paradoxically the only true source of life.