Saranak Nathida

On the day I had no refuge, filled with tears,
I sat there, all alone
you called me, stretched out your hand,
you cried out, calling my name
saying “you are mine, I will keep you,”
you laid me on your breast and comforted me, Jesus

Heart-pain burned me, day after day,
I was left alone in the darkness
bearing that pain upon the cross,
you set me free from it
quenching my tears,
it was you who comforted me and kept me, Jesus

My sinful life,
it was your blood that made whole
how can I ever say in words,
my God, that love of yours?
Writing your name all across my heart,
I will worship you forever, Jesus

On the day I had no refuge, filled with tears,
I sat there, all alone
you called me, stretched out your hand,
you cried out, calling my name
saying “you are mine, I will keep you,”
you laid me on your breast and comforted me, Jesus

This is a hymn of rescue, the testimony of someone who was at the end of themselves when God reached in. The opening is stark and lonely, “on the day I had no refuge, filled with tears, I sat there, all alone.” Into that emptiness comes the tender heart of the song: Jesus “called me, stretched out his hand, and cried out my name.” Being known and named by God is the turning point, followed by the intimate assurance, “you are mine, I will keep you,” and the picture of being “laid on his breast” and comforted like a child.

The middle verse names what he was saved from. “Heart-pain burned me day after day, I was left alone in the darkness,” and the deliverance came through the cross, “bearing that pain upon the cross, you set me free from it.” His tears were quenched not by circumstances changing but by Christ carrying the pain himself.

The final verse turns to grateful wonder and dedication. “My sinful life, it was your blood that made whole,” and then the overwhelmed question every grateful heart asks, “how can I ever say in words that love of yours?” Some love is simply too great for language. So he answers not with words but with worship, “writing your name all across my heart, I will worship you forever.” What the listener is left with is the deep comfort of being found in the loneliest hour, named, held, healed by blood, and bound forever to the one who came looking.