::in the hands of such love::

See us

steeped in

the sin of the world;

loving evil

for evil’s sake,

hating God

and all that

God stands for,

ever seeking

to drain deeper and deeper

the cup of our sinful indulgence.

The Spirit follows us unwaveringly through all.

He is not

driven away

because

we are sinners.

He comes to us

because,

being sinners,

we need Him.

He is not cast off

because we reject

His loving offices.

He abides with us

because our rejection

of Him

would leave us helpless.

He does not condition

His further help

upon our recognizing

and returning

His love.

His continuance

with us

is conditioned only

on His own love for us.

And that love for us

is so strong,

so mighty,

and so constant

that it can never fail.

When He sees us immersed in sin

and rushing headlong to destruction,

He does not turn from us,

He yearns for us with jealous envy.

It is

in the hands of such love

that we have fallen.

And it is because

we have fallen

into the hands of such love

that we have

before us

a future of eternal hope.

When we lose hope in ourselves,

when the present becomes dark

and the future black before us,

when effort after effort has issued only

in disheartening failure,

and our sin looms big before our despairing eyes;

when our hearts hate and despise themselves,

and we remember

that God is greater than our hearts

and cannot abide the least iniquity;

the Spirit whom He has sent

to bring us to Him

still labors with us,

not in indifference or hatred,

but in pitying love.

Yea,

His love burns

all the stronger

because we

so deeply need

His help:

He is yearning

after us

with jealous envy.

B.B Warfield

[HT: Justin Taylor - God Yearns after You with Jealous Envy]

(emphasis mine)