Sunday's 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.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

—George Matheson

 Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Jesus, Priceless Treasure at The Happy Wonderer
• The Mark of Covenant Grace at Tried With Fire
• I Didn’t Do Anything at The Outspoken Tulip 

Selected Reading

I read these recently and recommend them to you.

Biography

Ten Baptists Everyone Should Know: William Carey
Although he probably wouldn’t be comfortable with you reading about his accomplishments.

Women of the Reformation: Argula von Grumbach
“They called Argula a wretched and pathetic daughter of Eve, a female desperado, an arrogant devil, and a shameless whore. They wanted the ‘silly bag’ tamed and punished. Her husband lost his administrative post in Dietfurt as punishment for not properly controlling his wife.” Luther, on the other hand, called her “a singular instrument of Christ.” 

Women of the Reformation: Jane Grey
Because I can’t stop at just one. Jane’s story is one of amazing faithfulness in the face of martyrdom, especially considering she was only sixteen or seventeen when she died.

Church History

Why the Reformation Still Matters
“Five hundred years later, the Roman Catholic Church has still not been reformed. For all the warm ecumenical language used by so many Protestants and Roman Catholics, Rome still repudiates justification by faith alone.” What’s more, “[o]utside Roman Catholicism, the doctrine of justification by faith alone is routinely shied away from as insignificant, wrongheaded, or perplexing.” So “[n]ow is not a time to be shy about justification or the supreme authority of the Scriptures that proclaim it. Justification by faith alone is no relic of the history books; it remains today as the only message of ultimate liberation, the message with the deepest power to make humans unfurl and flourish.”

Theological Term of the Week: Wisdom (of God)

wisdom (of God)
“That perfection of God whereby He applies his knowledge to the attainment of His ends in a way which glorifies Him most”;1also called omnisapience.

From scripture:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36 ESV)

O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalm 104:24 ESV)

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord … . (Ephesians 3:8–11 ESV)

From Knowing God by J. I. Packer:

What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise? In Scripture, wisdom is a moral as well as an intellectual quality, more than mere intelligence or knowledge, just as it is more than mere cleverness or cunning. For us to be truly wise, in the Bible sense, our intelligence and cleverness must be harnessed to a right end. Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.

Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariably wise. “His wisdom ever waketh,” says the hymn, and it is true. God is never other than wise in anything that he does. Wisdom, as the old theologians used to say, is his essence, just as power and truth and goodness are his essence—integral elements, that is, in his character.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Wisdom of God
2. Bod Deffinbaugh: The Wisdom of God
3. Rev. D. H. Kuiper: The Manifold Wisdom of God
4. John Gill: The Wisdom of God
5. Stephen Charnock: Discourse on the Wisdom of God

Related terms:

• communicable attributes
• omnipotence
• omniscience
• providence

1 From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof.

Filed under God’s Nature and His Works

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