July 28, 2005

Have faith in God –
When evil threatens right;
Have faith in God –
In Armageddon’s fight;
Have faith in God –
When it’s “Thirty for Tonight!”
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

The Unclouded Day

Josiah Kelly Alwood, 1828-1909

    "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14:1-4.

    Born July 15, 1828, near Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio, Josiah Alwood, writer of The Unclouded Day, is only known for this one hymn favorite. Although the beauty of clouds is amazing, it is not physical clouds that this song speaks of, nor that the new Heaven and new Earth will be without. The clouds of this song are the clouds of sin, those storm clouds in our lives that cause us to see through a glass darkly, as the Apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians. But there, in our heavenly Home, we shall see our Lord face to face!
    Alwood was a circuit riding preacher in the American Midwest, and later he was an elder in the North Ohio Conference of the United Brethren Church. His hymn has become a favorite from coast to coast, even being included among Southern favorites in Smoky Mountain Hymns.

O they tell me of a Home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a Home far away;
O they tell me of a Home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day!

O they tell me of a Home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that Land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day!

O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits upon the throne that of emerald glows,
In the city that is made of gold!

O they tell me that He smiles on His children there,
And His smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again
In that lovely Land of unclouded day!

Chorus:
O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded day!
O they tell me of a Home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day!

Have Faith in God by H.M.S. Richards, Used by Permission