Lord, All I Am Is Known to Thee

Lord, all I am is known to Thee:
In vain my soul would try
To shun Thy presence, or to flee
The notice of Thine eye.

Thy all surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest,
My public walks, my private ways,
The secrets of my breast.

My thoughts lie open to Thee, Lord,
Before they’re formed within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
Thou knowest the sense I mean.

O wondrous knowledge! deep and high:
Where can a creature hide?
Within Thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on every side.

So let Thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from every ill,
Secured by sovereign love.

Author: Isaac Watts

Year: 1719

This is a paraphrase of Psalm 139 from Watts' Psalms of David Imitated (1719). The original title is usually "Lord, Thou hast searched and seen me through" but many later hymnals and collections use the first line of this specific version or excerpt.