Kalabunu Mage Sitha Lyrics by Pastor Charles Luchow

My troubled heart,
is there no place of refuge?
Because Jesus rules the world,
stay unshaken, my heart

Ah, ah, it is joy, it is joy to me,
here in the presence of God

Are you shedding tears over the things that are past?
What has happened is for good, give thanks, give thanks
Are you sinking in the middle of a rough sea?
Reach out your hand, look to Jesus, and be kept safe

Friend, have you let go, have you broken faith?
Take the never-failing hand of our God and walk on

This is a hymn of reassurance, spoken by a believer to his own anxious heart and then out to a struggling friend. It opens with the honest question everyone in distress asks, “my troubled heart, is there no place of refuge?” and answers it at once with the ground of all its confidence: “because Jesus rules the world, stay unshaken.” If the Lord of everything is in charge, the heart need not be tossed about.

From that settled place springs joy, “ah, it is joy to me, here in the presence of God.” And then the song turns to comfort, working through the very worries that unsettle a person. Regret over the past, “are you shedding tears over things that are past?”, is met with trust, “what has happened is for good, give thanks.” Fear of being overwhelmed, “are you sinking in the middle of a rough sea?”, recalls Peter sinking on the water until Jesus caught him: “reach out your hand, look to Jesus, and be kept safe.”

The last verse is the most tender, addressed to anyone whose grip has slipped, “friend, have you let go, have you broken faith?” The answer is not scolding but rescue: “take the never-failing hand of our God and walk on.” What the listener is left with is steadying assurance in a world of rough seas and painful pasts, the promise that a heart which fixes itself on the God who rules everything, and takes his unfailing hand, can stay unshaken and even glad.