August 6, 2009
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Lovest thou Me? (William Cowper) - Perseverance
While at the airport I was reading Martyn Lloyd-Jones' "Living Waters: Studies in John 4" and ML-J referenced this a portion of William Cowper's "Hark, My Soul! It Is the Lord." Given that I have a PDF of "The Olney Hymns" on my laptop (no wonder why I am about out of space...
), I was able to look it up immediately. I found the words so wonderful (well, in my opinion, anything by Cowper is) and I definitely wanted to share it with all of you here.From "The Olney Hymns"
XVIII. LOVEST THOU ME?—JOHN xxi.16.
(William Cowper)
HARK, my soul! it is the Lord:
‘Tis thy Saviour, hear his word;
Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee:
“Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?
“I deliver’d thee when bound,
And when bleeding, heal’d thy wound;
Sought thee wandering, set thee right,
Turn’d thy darkness into light.
“Can a woman’s tender care
Cease towards the child she bare?
Yes, she may forgetful be,
Yet will I remember thee.
“Mine is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above;
Deeper than the depths beneath,
Free and faithful, strong as death.
“Thou shalt see my glory soon,
When the work of grace is done;
Partner of my throne shalt be:—
Say, poor sinner, lovest thou me?”
Lord, it is my chief complaint,
That my love is weak and faint;
Yet I love thee and adore:
Oh for grace to love thee more!If it were not for his perseverance, there would be no perseverance of the saints. If it were left to us, we would all fail, every one of us. We have failed. How we know this! Paul said to the Ephesians, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (2:10). Some say that the original idea there is, "We are his poem." Or you can think of that verse in terms of a potter making some beautiful vases. The point in both cases is that God is the author, he is the artist, he is the maker. And he never leaves his work unfinished. We start things and then stop, leaving them in an imperfect condition. But our Lord cannot do that; he would deny himself if he did. He is God the Son; he is perfect.
–Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "Living Water: Studies in John 4" (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), 29
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Comments (7)
I have always liked Philippians for the same reason--God will work it all out.
frank
@ANVRSADDAY - i like what you say here Frank. simple but true, God will work it all out. amen.
Can you even imagine a vase making itself. Plop. I, the clay, jump on the potter's wheel and begin spinning. But wait...I have no hands to do the shaping. And where do I get the vision of what I should look like when finished? If we cannot have the vision or the ability to "create" ourselves, what makes us think we can preserve what He has made? How do we properly design a purpose for ourselves apart from knowing how and why He has made us?
It's even harder to imagine a poem writing itself...
@ANVRSADDAY - Frank, ditto what
@YouTOme Julie said.
@quest4god@revelife - Norm, I love how you expanded on that. Even if we could shape ourselves, our vision would certainly be corrupt since our minds are enmity against God due to the fall. Anything we might imagine or fashion would not be anything close to the glory He intends for us — to be conformed to the image of Christ.
@YouTOme - Thanks, dear sister.