GHS 159 : Why Do You Wait? Lyrics

GHS 159, “Why Do You Wait?,” is one of the most direct urgency hymns in the GHS collection. Written by George F. Root, it asks a question that most people instinctively avoid and then keeps asking it, stanza after stanza, from every angle. What do you hope to gain from further delay? The harvest is passing. The Spirit is striving within you right now. There is no other way to be saved and no one else to save you. The Saviour is longing to bless you. There is danger and death in delay.

The refrain reduces the whole question to its sharpest form: Why not? Why not come to Him now? This hymn appears as number 159 in the Gospel Hymns and Songs (GHS) collection, used in Deeper Life Bible Church and related assemblies across West Africa, and it is among the most searching invitation hymns in the tradition.

Hymn Lyrics – GHS 159: Why Do You Wait?

1. Why do you wait, dear brother, Oh, why do you tarry so long? Your Saviour is waiting to give you A place in His sanctified throng.

Why not? Why not? Why not come to Him now?

1. What do you hope, dear brother, To gain by a further delay? There’s no one to save you but Jesus, There’s no other way but His way.

2. Do you not feel, dear brother, His Spirit now striving within? Oh, why not accept His salvation, And throw off your burden of sin?

3. Why do you wait, dear brother? The harvest is passing away; Your Saviour is longing to bless you, There’s danger and death in delay!