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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love" (John 15:9).
Devotional
What sweet repose there is here for the saints of God. Does God rest in his love? Then the believer in Jesus may rest in it too. Does Infinity find repose here? Then so may a poor finite creature. Does Immanuel rest in it? Then so may you, resting in Immanuel. If it is enough for the LORD God Almighty himself, then surely it is enough for the people of the LORD God Almighty.
Our dear Lord's exhortations harmonize with this truth, "Abide in me"; "Continue in my love."
Beloved reader, come and rest in this love—Jesus invites you to its blessed repose. Are you weary, tossed with tempest? Is there sadness in your spirit, sorrow in your heart, a cloud upon your mind? Is some crystal cistern broken, some fragrant flower withered, some fond and pleasant mercy gone? "Come," says Jesus, "and rest in my love. Rest in the reality of my love. Rest in the depth of my love. Rest in the tenderness of my love. Rest in the deathlessness of my love."
Oh blessed rest! Poor, heart-broken sinner, weeping penitent, weary, laboring soul! What do you need? Mercy? It is in Christ! Forgiveness? It is in Christ! Acceptance? It is in Christ! The silencing power of love? It is in Christ! A reconciled Father, a pacified God? He is in Christ! All that you need is in Christ! Draw near, then, and rest in his love.
The Father rests in Jesus. His justice rests in Jesus. His holiness rests in Jesus. His truth rests in Jesus. His power rests in Jesus. And in Jesus you too may rest!
God rests in his love towards you, because he rests in the Son of his love. And in the Son of his love your weary, jaded, trembling spirit may find full and eternal repose. And so, whatever your present circumstances are, whatever the severity of your Father's dealings may be, ever remember that he still rests in his love.
If you judge him by his providences rather than by his promises, your faith may become unhinged from this truth. But the standard by which you are to form your views of God's character is the same as that by which you are to judge your own—his Word. That Word declares that he rests in his love, that he rests in it at the present time, and, therefore, he rests in it at the very moment that his providences in your life are the darkest and most threatening.
When all things seem to be against you, when even God himself seems to be against you, even then he is resting with infinite satisfaction and delight in the love with which he has loved you from everlasting. And when all the mighty wheels of his providence are rapidly turning, when event follows event and convulsion succeeds convulsion—when your spirit is agitated, and your heart is alarmed, and your whole soul is awe-struck and appalled at the wonder-workings of his power, even then is God calmly, serenely, resting in his love towards you, unmoved, unruffled, unbeclouded by the things which convulse the universe.
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,
even 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,
for ever safe, for ever blest.
(Horatius Bonar, 1861)
Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.
Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.
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