Why are my Winters So Long?

The last stanza of a hymn based on Ps 73:25:

Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine,
If Thou art my sun and my song;
Say, why do I languish and pine,
And why are my winters so long?
O drive these dark clouds from my sky,
Thy soul-cheering presence restore;
Or take me unto Thee on high,
Where winter and clouds are no more.

—John Newton, "Hymn XLVI," in The Works of John Newton, vol. 2, 125.