Awhile in Spirit, Lord, to Thee

Awhile in spirit, Lord, to Thee
Into the desert we would flee;
Awhile upon the barren steep
Our fast with Thee in spirit keep.

Awhile from Thy temptation learn
The daily snares of sin to spurn,
And in our hearts to feel and own
Man liveth not by bread alone.

O Thou once tempted like as we,
Thou knowest our infirmity;
Be Thou our Helper in the strife,
Be Thou our true, our inward Life.

And while, at Thy command we pray,
“Give us our bread from day to day,”
May we with Thee, O Christ, be fed,
Thou Word of God, Thou living Bread.

Author: William Bright

Year: 1866

This Lenten hymn first appeared in William Bright's 'Hymns and Other Poems' (1866). It is sometimes attributed in hymnals to 'W. Bright' or listed anonymously, but scholarly sources and 19th-century collections consistently credit the English hymnologist and Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History.