2.14.2011

::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
(emphasis mine)

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