Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness" (Psalm 89:30-33).
Devotional
Divine love chastens. Why? Because it sees the necessity for the correction. The Lord's love is not a blind affection. It is all-seeing and heart-searching. When has he ever shown himself blind to the follies of his people? When has his love ever been ignorant of their sinful departures? Was he blind to the unbelief of Abraham? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the deception of Jacob? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the impatience of Moses? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the self-applause of Hezekiah? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the adultery and murder of David? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the idolatry of Solomon? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the disobedience of Jonah? He chastened him for it. Was he blind to the self-righteousness of Job? He corrected him for it. Was he blind to the denial of Peter? He rebuked him for it.
It is our mercy to know that love notices our iniquity, and that love (and not justice), grace (and not vengeance), holds the rod and administers the correction. Do you think, O chastened child of the Lord, that your Father would have touched you where your feelings are most acute, where your anguish is the deepest, had he not seen a real necessity? Had he marked no iniquity, no flaw, no departure, no spot, you would have known what the "kisses of his mouth" (Song 1:2) were, rather than the strokes of his rod. And yet believe it, for he has declared it, those stripes of his rod are just as much the fruit and the expression of his love as are the "kisses of his mouth;" "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves" (Heb. 12:6).
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will
while I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
as in thy presence humbly I bow.
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power—all power—surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
(Adelaide A. Pollard, 1902)
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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