The Wilderness Songs

The Pillar of Cloud and Fire By day a cloud that blocks the sun By night a fire when day is done You lead us through a trackless waste With mercy that is never haste We do not choose the path we take But follow where Your pillar breaks The wilderness is not our home Yet in it You refuse to roam And when we grumble at the sand You do not cast us from Your hand But bread from heaven fills our store Until we reach the farther shore Manna in the Morning The manna lies like frost on ground That miracles make thin and round It tastes of home we left behind And home we have not yet to find Each morning it is given new As though You had not one, but two And yet it is the same old grace That meets us in this desert place We gather only what we need And trust You for the rest indeed For hoarding only breeds decay In wilderness along the way Water from the Rock The rock was struck and waters sprang Where thirst had held its bitter reign And Moses learned what prophets know That God provides where streams don't flow But Christ, the Rock, was struck for me And from His side flows liberty Not water only, but the blood That makes the desert into flood So drink, my soul, and drink again From One who bore the curse of men The rock stands in the burning land And streams forth from His wounded hand The Bronze Serpent on the Pole The serpents came by sin's own wage And poison ran through every age Until the bronze was lifted high And looked upon, the sick would die No more But live, because the serpent bore The likeness of the curse they earned And in that looking, they were turned So Christ was lifted on the tree That all who look in faith might see The poison drawn, the venom spent In Him who bore our punishment The Promised Land Beyond the Jordan The wilderness is long and deep And some lie down and fall asleep But Caleb still has strength to stand And presses on to that fair land Where milk and honey wait in store And Canaan's walls will fall before The Word that speaks the worlds to be And gives the victory for free So let us not grow faint or tired For every step is heaven-fired The promised land is coming near And Christ has gone to meet us there