I never read a book without a pen. Provided the book is mine, I will underline, mark up and write notes and thoughts as I go. Sometimes it's fun to grab a favorite book off the shelf and flip the pages just to remind myself of what struck me the first time through. I did this the other night with John MacArthur's "The Love Of God."
At the beginning of chapter 8, JMac briefly tells the powerful story of George Matheson. After great loss in his life, Matheson found solace in God's unchanging love and penned the hymn "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go."
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee
I give Thee back the life I owe
That in thine ocean-depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
What profound comfort for the true believer! Though we are not immune from trouble, we are indeed immune to being lost by our loving Father. Wow - to be swallowed up in that knowledge and give my all and everything to Him in obedience!
The song in the video below is Steve Camp's own song along the same theme. I can't listen to it without weeping. Soli Deo Gloria! Be blessed.
4 comments:
this seems to keep happening...i've also been thinking about assurance lately. particularly i keep noticing how it somehow seems to lie at the root of so many of our relational problems, our worries, etc.
i recently heard someone teaching that many catholic theologians (particularly those of the 16th/17th centuries) regard the protestant doctrine of assurance as *the most damnable* of all their (our) heresies. think of all the differences and ponder THAT for a minute.
it is then that much more disappointing how many protestant denominations, in jettisoning (or at least neglecting) the reformation doctrines of God's sovereign grace, have necessarily let slip from their grasp the profound comfort God has provided to us in His Word regarding this matter.
this Yom Kippur and the last, i've been studying the nature and the extent of the atonement (phil johnson), and it's really been sinking in that precisely *because* the atonement is "limited" in its application (and not its effect), we CAN HAVE assurance. because Christ's work did make things happen and didn't just make things possible, we can have assurance. because Yeshua bought our faith, bought our repentance, bought our perseverance, we can have the deep assurance that so often simply seems to be assumed by the writers of the NT epistles.
it then becomes not a question of do I believe or am i repenting or am i being faithful ENOUGH? am i doing anything else ENOUGH to merit earning or keeping my salvation and His love, but rather, do i believe? am i repenting? if i do, if i am, then that belief, that repentance, that faithfulness is not something i accomplished, but rather was a gift, purchased and applied by our Savior's blood. if that was only done for His elect, then i can know i belong to Him and "He will not let me go." if i love Him, it is because He first loved me. and not with a generic love that is just out there, available for any takers, but a specific, personal, adopted-as-a-son-forever love. completely outside of me and independent of me and prior to me.
and all "to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved!"
thanks for the post...we so need to hear about this again and again.
PS
hey, btw, are you driving/flying to VT? will you be in manchester or boston or anywhere in those two states at all? if so, let me know...
I'm flying into LaGuardia, then a puddle jumper up to Burlington. I will actually be staying in Ludlow, VT Monday and Tuesday night, which is where Michele has been since last week. What is that? Maybe 90 miles from Manchester? I don't know what our "tourist" plans are, but it'd be cool to see you. Call me if you think you'll be around...
And furthermore . . . excellent comments. I mean really. Nail firmly struck on the head.
Good to know you enjoy the NE... Piseco/Speculator area in the ADK is not too far away. We often ride from our base in ADK over to VT. Would love to get you to next year's ABC men's retreat.
Btw, not everyone can enjoy Southern Gospel music... but the Gaither Vocal Band does an incredible 'accapella' version of 'O Love the will not let me go'.
you might even find it posted in my past blogs... pretty sure anyway.
Enjoy VT!
Tim - Vermont was AMAZING. I didn't realize the mountains of Vermont were so...uh...mountainy. Beautiful place, and I was longing to be on my motorcycle! New York was equally enticing.
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