Kithu Samindune Obe

Lord Christ, at the foot of your cross,
telling out the harsh feelings that wound my heart,
that you would adorn my heart with the comfort of peace,
I plead for grace, closing my eyes

Lord Christ, at the foot of your cross,
telling out the harsh feelings that trouble my mind,
that you would adorn my heart with the comfort of relief,
I plead, weeping, closing my eyes

Lord Christ, at the foot of your cross,
not hiding away the wishes I have wished,
that you would make my dreams come true,
I plead, telling it all, closing my eyes

This is a hymn of honest prayer, and its setting is significant: everything is spoken “at the foot of your cross.” The believer comes to the one place where God’s love was proven completely, the crucifixion, and there he pours out what is really in his heart. The posture repeated in every verse, “closing my eyes,” is the picture of true prayer, shutting out the world to be alone with God.

What he brings is not polished piety but raw honesty. In the first verse it is “the harsh feelings that wound my heart,” and his request is gentle, “that you would adorn my heart with the comfort of peace.” In the second it is “the harsh feelings that trouble my mind,” and now he pleads “weeping,” asking for “the comfort of relief.” The song does not pretend the heart is calm; it names the wounds and the turmoil and lays them at the cross.

The final verse widens from pain to hope. “Not hiding away the wishes I have wished,” the singer dares to bring his longings and dreams to God too, praying “that you would make my dreams come true.” There is something trusting and childlike in it, holding nothing back, neither the hurts nor the hopes. What the listener is left with is a model of prayer at its most real, kneeling at the cross with eyes closed, telling God everything, the harsh feelings and the secret dreams alike, and trusting him to bring peace to the wounds and to answer the longings of the heart.