"Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD. And he said, Who am
I, O LORD GOD! and what is my house, that thou hast brought me
hitherto? And is this the manner of man, O LORD GOD?" - 2 Samuel 7:18-19
The language of David, under the overwhelming views he had of divine
goodness, as it concerned himself, is suited to the case of every child
of God, as he may trace that goodness in his own history. Surely, every
awakened soul may cry out, under the same impression, - "Who am I, O
Lord God! and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? "My
soul! ponder over the sweet subject, as it concerns thyself. Behold
what manner of love the love of God is from the manner of man. View it
in each Person of the Godhead. What is the highest possible conception
any man can have of the love of God our Father to us? Was it not, when,
as an evidence of the love he had to our nature, he put a robe of that
nature, in its pure and holy state, upon the Person of his dear Son,
when he gave him a body in all points such as ours, sin only excepted,
that he might not only in that body perfect salvation both by his
obedience and death, but also, that he might be our everlasting
Mediator for drawing nigh to the Godhead, first in grace, and then in
glory? Tell me, my soul, what method, in all the stores of Omnipotency,
could God thy Father have adopted to convince thee of his love, as in
this sweet method of his wisdom. God intimates, by this tender process,
that he loveth the human nature which he hath created. And though, to
answer the wise measures of his plan of redemption, he hath not as yet
taken all the persons of his redeemed up to his heavenly court, yet he
will have their glorious Head, their representative there, that he may
behold Him, and accept the whole church in Him, and love them, and
bless them in Him, now, and forever. Oh! my soul, if this view of thy
Father's love was but always uppermost in thine heart, what a ground of
encouragement would it forever give thee, to come to thy God and Father
in him, and his mediation; who, while he is one in the divine nature,
is one also with thee in the human, on purpose to bid thee come. And as
for thee, thou blessed Jesus, thy love and thy delights were always
with thy people. From everlasting, thy tendencies of favour have been
towards them; thine whole heart is ours. All thy grace, in being set up
as the covenant-head for us, and all the after-actings of the same
grace in time; all that thou didst then, and all that thou art doing
now, - all, all testify the love of our Jesus. And may I not say to
thee, thou dear Redeemer, as David did, "Is this the manner of man, O
Lord God? "Yes, it is: but it is of the Glory-man, of the God-man,
Christ Jesus. And no less, thou Holy Spirit, whose great work is love
and consolation; what a thought is it too warm my soul into the most
awakened contemplation and delight in the view of thy love, that though
thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, yet dost thou make the
very bodies of the redeemed thy temples, for thine indwelling
residence. My soul, do as David did: go in before the Divine Presence;
fall down and adore in the solemn thought - "Who am I, O Lord God! and
what is my Father's house?"
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