O love of God!

"O love of God, how strong and true"

"O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal, and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.

O love of God, how deep and great!
Far deeper than man’s deepest hate;
Self fed, self kindled, like the light,
Changeless, eternal, infinite.

O heavenly love, how precious still,
In days of weariness and ill,
In nights of pain and helplessness,
To heal, to comfort, and to bless!

O wide embracing, wondrous love!
We read thee in the sky above,
We read thee in the earth below,
In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

We read thee best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame;
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die.

We read thy power to bless and save,
E’en in the darkness of the grave;
Still more in resurrection light,
We read the fullness of thy might.

O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the perils of our way!
Eternal love, in thee we rest
Forever safe, forever blest."
(Horatius Bonar, 1861)

"I testify, after 28 years (of preaching), the absolute, good, wise, total sovereignty of God over our lives is pastorally precious beyond measure!!!" ~ John Piper on suffering.

God,
has a plan,
in all things,
in all circumstances,
in all pain,
in all births and deaths,
in all events,
in all places,
in all of little me,
...
God,
has a plan.
It is good,
and best of all ...
He will be glorified,
through the sovereignty
of His most holy name.
....
"O heavenly love, how precious still,
In days of weariness and ill,
In nights of pain and helplessness,
To heal, to comfort, and to bless!"

I can truthfully sit here,
"looking you in the eye",
and tell you that that verse
is entirely true,
and that my Lord has become
all that more precious to me,
in suffering nights of pain and helplessness,
and that His love is able:
to heal,
to comfort,
and to bless.
....
Bless the Lord, o my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless His most holy name.

~ Jean Marie ~

(A look back at: First, Week 1 & Week 2.)