There Is No Unbelief By Elizabeth York Case

Elizabeth York Case’s “There Is No Unbelief” is a meditative portrait of everyday faith, written in simple images that almost everyone recognizes: planting a seed, watching the weather, sleeping at night, facing an uncertain tomorrow. Line by line, she suggests that even people who struggle to believe still reveal a deep, often unspoken trust whenever they hope for spring after winter, light after storm, or comfort in suffering.

Composed in the late 19th century and now in the public domain, the poem has circulated in churches, readers, and keepsake cards for generations, often comforting those who feel caught between doubt and faith. Case’s message is gentle but strong: beneath our fears and questions, the heart may already be quietly trusting the God our lips hesitate to name.

By Elizabeth York Case

There is no unbelief;
Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod
And waits to see it push away the clod –
He trusts in God.
There is no unbelief;
Whoever says when clouds are in the sky,
“Be patient, heart; light breaketh by and by,”
Trusts the Most High.
There is no unbelief;
Whoever sees ’neath winter’s fields of snow,
The silent harvest of the future grow –
God’s power must know.
There is no unbelief;
Whoever lies down on his couch to sleep,
Content to lock each sense in slumber deep,
Knows God will keep.
There is no unbelief;
Whoever says “tomorrow,” “the unknown,”
“The future,” trusts the power alone
He dares disown.
There is no unbelief;
The heart that looks on when the eye-lids close,
And dares to live when life has only woes,
God’s comfort knows.
There is no unbelief;
For thus by day and night unconsciously
The heart lives by that faith the lips deny.
God knoweth why!