The Unchangeable Love of God

 

“The love of God is like himself—

                                  Constant,

                                  Not capable of augmentation or diminishing.

It is like the sun,

               Always the same in its light,

               Though a cloud may sometimes interpose.

On whom the Father fixes his love,

He loves unto the end....

“As God manifests a sense of his love to us

It seems various and changeable;

              Sometimes more, sometimes less;

Now he shines

Then he hides his face,

              As it may be for our profit.

Our Father will not always chide,

                          Lest we be cast down;

He does not always smile,

                    Lest we become full and neglect him:

but yet, still his love in itself is the same.

              When for a little moment he hides his face,

Yet he gathers us with everlasting kindness....

“He loves us because he will;

There was and is nothing in us for which we should be beloved.

His love is unchangeable:

Though we change every day,

Yet his love does not.”

~John Owen, Works, 11:29-34, quoted in Voices from the Past, Vol II