December 30: My Father Loves Me
By John Owen
By persuading us of the eternal and unchangeable love of the Father, [the Spirit] fills us with consolation...“The world hateth me,” may such a soul as hath the Spirit say; “but my Father loves me. Men despise me as a hypocrite; but my Father loves me as a child. I am poor in this world; but I have a rich inheritance in the love of my Father. I am straitened in all things; but there is bread enough in my Father’s house. I mourn in secret under the power of my lusts and sin, where no eyes see me; but the Father sees me, and is full of compassion. With a sense of his kindness, which is better than life, I rejoice in tribulation, glory in affliction, triumph as a conqueror. Though I am killed all the day long, all my sorrows have a bottom that may be fathomed, — my trials, bounds that may be compassed; but the breadth, and depth, and height of the love of the Father, who can express?”1
God’s love will not rest, until it has brought us unto himself. But our love unto God ariseth from a sense of our own wants—our insufficiency to come unto rest in ourselves, or to attain unto blessedness by our own endeavours. In this state, seeing all in God, and expecting all from the suitableness of his excellencies unto our rest and satisfaction, our souls cleave unto him, with a desire of the nearest union whereof our natures are capable. We are made for him, and cannot rest until we come unto him.2
Communion with God, Works of John Owen, 2:262-263.
On the Person of Christ, Works of John Owen, 1:153.